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  • #31
    The BBC reports that the missile(s) hit its intended target. Three tallybunnies and six children and another 3 civilians were killed. A case of the Taliban firing behind civilians again,I think. That is from a British General,the BBC reports.
    "They want to test our feelings.They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and their newspapers."

    Protester

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    • #32
      MIKEMUN Reply

      Mike,

      Wherever possible try to provide a link for the rest of us please. Thanks.:)
      "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
      "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

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      • #33
        Would have liked to,but at the moment I am using a phone,and I can't copy links. Whoever said that phones will replace computers ought to be shot...with rubber bullets. Repeatedly.
        "They want to test our feelings.They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and their newspapers."

        Protester

        Comment


        • #34
          Afghanistan Taliban 'using human shields' - general

          US Marines have come under heavy fire in Marjah
          Taliban militants are increasingly using civilians as "human shields" as they battle against a joint Afghan-Nato offensive, an Afghan general has said.

          Gen Mohiudin Ghori said his soldiers had seen Taliban fighters placing women and children on the roofs of buildings and firing from behind them.

          The joint offensive in southern Helmand province has entered its fifth day.

          US Marines fighting to take the Taliban haven of Marjah have had to call in air support as they come under heavy fire.

          They have faced sustained machine-gun fire from fighters hiding in bunkers and in buildings including homes and mosques.





          Gen Ghori, the senior commander for Afghan troops in the area, accused the Taliban of taking civilians hostage in Marjah and putting them in the line of fire.

          "Especially in the south of Marjah, the enemy is fighting from compounds where soldiers can very clearly see women or children on the roof or in a second-floor or third-floor window," he is quoted by Associated Press as saying.

          "They are trying to get us to fire on them and kill the civilians."

          As a result, his forces were having to make the choice either not to return fire, he said, or to advance much more slowly in order to distinguish militants from civilians.





          Day-by-day report and map
          Civilians die in Kandahar strike
          Nato has stressed that the safety of civilians in the areas targeted in the joint Nato and Afghan Operation Moshtarak is its highest priority.

          Journalist Jawad Dawari, based in Lashkar Gah, told BBC Pashto that Taliban fighters remained in many residential areas of Marjah and were defending their positions with heavy weapons.

          "It is difficult for the Afghan army and Nato to storm Taliban-held areas because to do so may inflict heavy civilian casualties and there are still a lot of civilians in Marjah.

          "Whenever they launch an attack, the Taliban take refuge in civilians' homes."

          He had spoken to many local people in Marjah, he said, and they had all said the Nato offensive had made little progress since the first day.

          An Afghan military official had told reporters that the backbone of the resistance came from foreign fighters - Pakistani and Arab - and that it was feared they might resort to suicide attacks, he added.




          The most senior US general in the south, Brig Gen Ben Hodges, gave the BBC a more upbeat assessment of Marjah, saying locals were coming out to give information on insurgents now that they were confident the forces involved in Operation Moshtarak were not leaving.

          He said Afghan units would be staying for at least 30 days and the Marine battalions "for several months".

          Speaking to the BBC after visiting Marjah, the commander of British forces in southern Afghanistan, Maj Gen Nick Carter, said the situation was dangerous, but that progress was being made.

          He told the BBC's Frank Gardner it could take up to 30 days to clear the insurgents out, depending on when they lost the will to fight.

          Troops taking part in the offensive have been having to deal with large numbers of improvised bombs.

          American forces have found a so-called "daisy chain" - a long bomb rigged up from mortar bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and a motorbike, our correspondent says.



          Nato has said that safeguarding civilians is its top priority
          And British engineers have deployed a device called a "python" - a length of explosives designed to set off mines and clear a safe path through them, he says.

          Afghan army chief of staff Besmillah Khan told the AFP news agency the threat from improvised bombs meant gains were coming "slowly".

          Meanwhile, to the north, British forces have discovered an insurgent cache of stolen Afghan army and police uniforms.

          The find suggests the Taliban could have been planning attacks disguised as Afghan security personnel, our correspondent says.

          Nato says discussions with the local population on how to bring lasting security to the area are continuing, our correspondent adds.

          Gen Hodges said several hundred police had been trained and would go into central Helmand once the situation was deemed appropriate.

          British and Afghan troops are reported to be advancing more swiftly in the nearby district of Nad Ali than are their US and Afghan counterparts in Marjah.

          Missiles 'on target'

          Gen Carter confirmed on Tuesday a missile that struck a house outside Marjah on Sunday killing 12 people, including six children, had hit its intended target.




          Gen Carter said the rocket had not malfunctioned and the US system responsible for firing it was back in use. Officials say three Taliban, as well as civilians, were in the house but the Nato soldiers did not know the civilians were there.

          Initial Nato reports said the missile had landed about 300m (984ft) off its intended target. Gen Carter blamed these "conflicting" reports on "the fog of war".
          Speaking on Tuesday, Dawud Ahmadi - a spokesman for Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal - said that 1,240 families had been displaced and evacuated from Marjah - and all had received aid in the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

          Operation Moshtarak, meaning "together" in the Dari language, is the biggest coalition attack since the Taliban fell in 2001.

          Allied officials have reported only two coalition deaths so far - one American and one Briton killed on Saturday.



          BBC News - Afghanistan Taliban 'using human shields' - general
          "They want to test our feelings.They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and their newspapers."

          Protester

          Comment


          • #35
            Originally posted by Bluesman View Post
            There may be any number of reasons I can't find anything on this, so don't read anything into the fact that I haven't, BUT...there is still nothing at all in any reporting that says anything about this.

            Doesn't FEEL like a mistake. Usually, when it happens, those things are reported/de-briefed everywhere. May have been a 'good' hit, but there were kids present that we didn't know about before impact. It ain't like the Taliban has never taken cover behind children before, ya know.
            I think I called this one on the nose.

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            • #36
              IJC Operational Update, Feb. 23
              ISAF Joint Command RSS
              Courtesy Story
              Date: 02.23.2010
              Posted: 02.23.2010 02:35

              KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan soldiers from the 207th Commando Kandak, assisted by coalition forces, captured a Taliban leader and known weapons facilitator, in Gerani village, Bala Balouk District, Farah province Sunday.

              After the mission, Afghan and coalition leaders met with village elders to assess the security of the village and distribute food and medical supplies. No civilian casualties or property damage were reported.

              The Afghan national army and coalition forces are resolved to continue protecting local communities in the Farah province from insurgent attempts to gain ground through violence, fear and intimidation of the Afghan people.

              Yesterday a joint patrol in the Arghandab District of Kandahar found a weapons cache containing a rocket, grenades and ammunition.

              Last night, an Afghan-international security force searched a compound in the village of Zhawrah, in the Chak-e Wardak District of Wardak province after intelligence information indicated militant activity. During the search the assault force captured a Taliban sub-commander, with links to several militant networks and responsible for the planning of attacks on coalition forces. Another insurgent was also detained.

              During the search a militant was killed when he confronted the assault force with an imminent threat.

              In Nad-e Ali, Helmand province today, an ISAF patrol found a weapons cache containing four mortar rounds, pressure plates and IED-making materials. They later found an IED made of a 55mm illumination round packed with home-made explosives. Still later they found another IED consisting of a pressure plate and six mortar rounds.

              All of the munitions were destroyed in place by an explosive ordnance disposal team.

              Digital Video & Imagery Distribution System
              Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
              -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

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              • #37
                Pacifying Marjah

                A platoon from L Co. 3/6 Marines deal with the frustrating and still-dangerous Marjah environs-

                Uneasy Quiet, Then A Taliban Ambush-Stars & Stripes March 23, 2010

                At least the not-so-innocent locals are secure.
                "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

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                • #38
                  With The Coldstream Guards

                  Possibly our friend, Shiny Capstar, is somewhere downrange with these lads-

                  Being Watched On The Afghan Frontline - 15 March 2010 Channel 4 News

                  There's about sixteen minutes of interesting film footage of a three day Coldstream/ANA patrol accompanied by a reporter and cameraman. We've a ways to go yet before the ANA is going to be a viable fighting force.

                  The ANA company commander doesn't like getting his feet wet so his men carry him across canals. Loves the camera though.
                  "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                  "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

                    Gen. McChrystal was BENT upon putting a kinder, gentler face forward during Operation Moshtarak. By our standards we did. By the standards set forth by his command we had failures. But this was all calibrated within the context of winning hearts and minds, correct?

                    Afterall, our strategy assumes greater risk for us to assure the security of the local population. Read this and please let me know if we've secured the locals-

                    Hurting U.S. Efforts To Win Minds, Taliban Disrupt Pay - NYT April 4, 2010

                    Our poor innocent farmers are likely not so innocent. There is a real chance that many are taliban. Shabnamah rules the darkness and we're likely getting next to nothing really done to change the local climate.

                    The enemy doesn't fear us and we're not going to allow the Afghan government to intimidate the locals in a manner where they and the enemy will begin to fear them. We have assumed greater risk but to no gain.

                    My suspicion is doing so would mean adopting the Civic Action Platoons of the Vietnam era living as squads within hamlets and small villages. However, for how long? One year? Two? How many men might we lose and what happens at the end of that time were we to do so? Go home? Then what?

                    The enemy has adjusted. He's used our ROEs to stay among the populace. The populace aren't nor will be secured. Men are killed within earshot and eyesight of our bases and while we might be able to patrol, once the sun sets it's a different world.

                    MAYBE (and that's a BIG maybe) ten years of the same platoons in the same villages might make a difference. Even then the taliban have the time if we've the watches. We'll be leaving, though, in the space of sixteen months and have ZERO intention of placing our troops in the midst of the taliban where we MIGHT have some chance of being effective. Once gone?

                    Civil war. I'm betting on the taliban.
                    "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                    "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

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                    • #40
                      Marjah Remains Unsecured

                      One wounded and one killed in Capt. Tony Zinni's company the other day. He lost a platoon leader and one of his troops was wounded when they discarded their body armor while loading sandbags.

                      Both were drilled in the chest by a sniper. Lieutenant Brandon Barrett was killed near instantly. Earlier the same day, Weapons Company lost one more wounded when shot while patrolling a street. Another from the same patrol narrowly missed wounding or being killed at the same time.

                      Taliban intimidation of locals is ever present in Marjah, even in broad daylight. A contractor was I.D. by his employees to four men on two motorcycles and instantly killed. Another local was dragged from his house and beaten to death in the street when he refused to pay taxes.

                      We're kidding ourselves...

                      Swift And Bloody: The Taliban's Revenge-London Times May 9, 2010
                      "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                      "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        RIP the dead.

                        Guerilla at its best.Is that Capt. a relative of General Zinni?
                        I'm fine with hearts and minds and all smiles and roses.But where is the bayonet in the enemy guts?In the marvelous strategy there was something that a good cop/bad cop scenario will occur.So far the bad cop hasn't showed up for work.
                        Those who know don't speak
                        He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. Luke 22:36

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                        • #42
                          Mihais Reply

                          Zinni's son.
                          "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
                          "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

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