US Troops Seek 'Revenge' in Afghanistan

[Judi Lynn]

US Troops Seek 'Revenge' in Afghanistan
Monday September 4, 2006 7:16 PM
By PAUL GARWOOD

Associated Press Writer

NARAY, Afghanistan (AP) - Hundreds of American soldiers at this remote outpost are keeping up the hunt for Osama bin Laden even though the trail's gone cold, still motivated by memories of the hijacked and crashed airliners of five years ago on Sept. 11.

``Revenge was a big part of it,'' said 24-year-old Lt. Mike Vieira of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division. The unit's 600 soldiers arrived here in February at what was then the army's northernmost outpost along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.

From the base, called Forward Operating Base Naray, soldiers can spy ethnic Pashtun tribesmen and militants walking on a nearby ridge that marks the border with Pakistan. It's a known passage for surreptitious crossings.

At least seven soldiers, including the battalion's first commander, Lt. Col. Joseph J. Fenty of Florida, have been killed in ambushes and helicopter crashes during the mission. The troops are pushing into areas of eastern Afghanistan where anti-U.S. insurgents have long operated unchallenged.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6057897,00.html

[Tom Joad]

1. Should be seeking the first flight home, don't stay where your

not wanted.

[Charlie Brown]

2. He who lives by the sword...

shall die by the sword.

[brentspeak]

3. The troops might have had Osama's head on a stick already if it

weren't for the Iraq quagmire completely undermining the Afghanistan mission. In any case, the troops have done the best they can under poor political leadership.

[IndianaGreen]

4. America exacted her revenge for 9-11 on the innocent people of Iraq

Anymore killings now are just indiscriminate killings.

If these assholes want to stay in Afghanistan, they are doing so of their own volition. My freedoms are not threatened by Afghanistan or Iraq, but by the Messianic pretender in the White House.

[NYC]

12. This war has killed as many Americans as 9/11.

It was reported yesterday.

We've gotten revenge on Afghans, Iraqis, and ourselves.

Edit:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2809951

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[lebkuchen]

7. friend and I met MN/IA NG who said they were out for revenge

about to head on their 3rd tour, this time to Iraq.

Personally, I think Rummy has purposely cultivated this type of soldier.

[Name removed]

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[MADem]

10. This entire AP article is BULLSHIT

Find one guy to use the "R" word, and build an essay around it. The revenge isn't about Nine Wun Wun at all. It is, instead, about UNIT COHESION and THESE events:

At least seven soldiers, including the battalion's first commander, Lt. Col. Joseph J. Fenty of Florida, have been killed in ambushes and helicopter crashes during the mission.

There's your damn revenge.

And then, there's this nonsense: Gilbert said the failure to capturing bin Laden is a major frustration for him and fellow infantrymen.

Well, of COURSE it is frustrating. If you don't CATCH the bastard, you'll have to do yet ANOTHER tour in that hellhole! But hey, why are we talking about this FIVE YEARS ON from the FIRST wasted opportunity to capture the sumbitch?

But my FAVORITE "whistling in the dark" sentence has to be this one:

Relations between the U.S. soldiers and locals in Naray seem friendly, except for the occasional rocket strike aimed at the base.

Pay no attention to the "occasional rocket strike aimed at the base!" It's :rofl: funny, except that it's so damn sad and sick.

I'm surprised GUARDIAN picked this thing up. It's awash with contradictory horseshit.

[agincourt]

11. A whole 600 soldiers for Bin Laden,

130,000 for the guy whom MIGHT have "tried to kill my dad". Use of US army for an adult frat-rats gratification. Makes McNamera look like a military genius. How sad.

[NNN0LHI]

13. The 15 year old Afghan kids we are fighting now were 10 years old...

...when this all started. Some real international terrorist masterminds there, eh?

We will never learn.

Don

[Disturbed]

14. I have no love for the Taliban folk but I do have a question.

Why did the Busholini Regime decide to overthrow the Taliban?

[NNN0LHI]

16. These Taliban we are fighting sound a lot like the...

...Afghan Mujahideen who our CIA once financed to terrorize the Soviets. Same tactics. Same viciousness. I think there a lot of different groups we are fighting over there. Just like the Soviets were. All a Taliban guy has to do is change his black turban to some other color and he isn't a Taliban any more. I think Taliban is just a catch phrase to describe anyone we kill.

And Bush didn't really remove or overthrough the Taliban anyway. Some are in the puppet government Bush installed. Others are going to school here in the USA. And still others changed their turbans and became Afghan policemen and soldiers.

Its all a farce.

Don

[PresidentWar]

15. Oh that's a wonderful basis for a foreign policy.

I cannot wait until all these fuckwits the Republicans have visited upon us are gone. Gone daddy gone.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Afghanistan is already lost!

Instead of going after those responsible for 9-11, Bush decided to punish an entire country for the crimes of the few and in doing so, succeeded in making enemies of people that did not know that NYC even existed. We should have reacted to 9-11 in the same limited fashion Israel reacted to the Munich massacre.

Published on Monday, September 4, 2006 by the McClatchy Newspapers
U.S. Winning Battles Against Terror, But May Be Losing the War
by Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay

KABUL, Afghanistan - Five years ago, the United States fired its first shots in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror here in Afghanistan, evicting al-Qaida and toppling the Taliban regime that hosted Osama bin Laden's network.

Today, the United States and its allies are struggling to halt advances by a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in large swaths of this still desperately poor and unstable country.

"Things are going very badly," admitted an official with the allied military forces, who asked not to be identified because the issue is so sensitive. "We've arrived at a situation where things are significantly worse than we anticipated."

The trends in Afghanistan appear to mirror the global war on terror a half-decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Bush administration and allied governments have won battle after battle, but appear to be in danger of losing the war.

Indeed, a growing number of analysts, many of them former top government counterterrorism officials, argue that the very notion of a "war" on terrorism is the wrong strategy.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0904-02.htm