Frustrated US forces fail to win hearts and minds

[kskiska]

Troops hunting Taliban run into wall of silence

(snip)

Rooting out the remnants of the Taliban has proved a maddening task for US forces in Afghanistan. Scattered and weakened the militia remain a slippery foe, hidden in the crevices of the mountains. But with landmark elections just weeks away, the hunt has gained fresh urgency.

(snip)

The American assumption that good works buy Afghan loyalty does not always hold true. And sometimes it can go disastrously wrong.

During a medical patrol to help the sick in a remote village last Friday, commanding officer Captain Andrew Brosnan heard gunshots and mortar fire in a nearby valley. Suspecting bandits were attacking a truck convoy, he led an investigating team. As they mounted the slope his soldiers spotted two running figures in the distance. After a verbal warning and a warning shot, Capt Brosnan ordered his team to open fire.

But when the approached the fallen "enemy", they discovered they had shot two children, Abdul Ali, 12, who was hit in the leg, and his brother Abdul Wali, 10, who had been shot in the head. By the time a Black Hawk helicopter landed to evacuate the wounded boys, Wali was dead.

The Guardian did not witness the shooting and the 25th Infantry provincial commander, Lieutenant Colonel Terry Sellers, who was visiting Uruzgan at the time, ordered the troops involved not to speak about it.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1310564,00.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Paging Westmoreland

[JSJ]

2. troops shoot first- then ask questions...go troops! nt

[Eye and Monkey]

3. the Afghans heard it from the British EMPIRE and the Soviet EMPIRE

from the article -

"Then, gathering hundreds of local men in a circle around him, Capt Brosnan delivered a stern message. He had come to the townspeople "in friendship" two weeks earlier, he said, and outlined Alpha Company's development projects. He also appealed for information about the Taliban attacks. Despite that, he admonished, "not one person here has helped me."

Moments later, a US jet cracked across the sky in a choreographed show of force. "Together we can build a better Afghanistan," he concluded. The townsmen, listening carefully as they hunkered under the morning sun, stood up and left."

Uh-huh, force is gonna work on these folks.

[truthisfreedom]

4. what is your freaking problem? are you part of the "hate 'Murika first

crowd?" /sarcasm.

now i'll sit here and cry for awhile.

[Eye and Monkey]

5. Naw, but I've actually seen "development" work. Only, not from the barrel

of a gun.

[leftchick]

6. and like them the American Empire....

will lose as well. It really amazes me to hear these military folks talk like this. Naive or just plain stupid?

[JSJ]

7. primitive cunning nt

[Dem2theMax]

8. And the nightmare continues.

Imagine what the world would be like right now if * had gone directly to Afghanistan and STAYED there till the job was done -- AND left Iraq alone.

Then of course, we get THIS little reminder, "But with landmark elections just weeks away, the hunt has gained fresh urgency."

Can I :puke: now?