Our Allies Archives
One Word, Rhymes with "Jerks"
By Lt Col P
Someone here found this article on the 18 Jan suicide attack in downtown Kabul, and it deserves a few comments.
Taliban militants struck at the heart of old Kabul Monday in a brazen and coordinated assault that brought the beleaguered capital of 3 million people to a fearful, paralyzing halt.
It was also another bloody nose inflicted on both the central government's tenuous regime and international security forces, underscoring the vulnerability of a country edging toward internal combustion - just as U.S. President Barack Obama tries to stiffen resolve at home and abroad that the military mission in Afghanistan can
succeed.
Yet eight years after the American-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, and with an additional 37,000 U.S. troops now being deployed, the paramilitary insurgents have shown yet again they can attack at will, even penetrating the heavily fortified urban core of Kabul, causing mayhem with just a small number of grenade-tossing fighters and
suicide bombers.
Madam, please pull the plug on the hyperbole generator. "Brazen," yes; "coordinated," to an extent. But it didn't bring the capital to a halt. Yes, some stuff stopped, but life resumed pretty quickly. Good Lord. Thanks for being the Taliban's IO organ, lady! (The casualty figures are also wrong, but in all fairness it was an early report.) And the city is NOT heavily fortified; there is a significant presence, but "fortified" it ain't. And the bottom line remains unchanged-- Taliban gunmen MURDERED Afghan citizens going about their daily business. That needs to be stated clearly.
Unfortunately, there is also this, with my comments in [brackets]:
Worrisome as well was the apparent failure of [some!] foreign soldiers to come to the front-line aid of Afghans under siege. NATO officials said they had played an "advisory" role to Afghan security forces that finally managed, after six hours, to repel the attack and restore a semblance of order. [Believe me, there were other, more willing foreign soldiers in the fight.]
Turkey has the lead role with the International Security Assistance Force in protection of Kabul. But an interpreter who works for the Turks in their HQ said commanders had refused to involve their soldiers. "The commander said, `These are internal issues and you people have to deal with it yourself,'" the translator, who asked that his name not be used, told the Star. "He said, `We don't want to be involved in the war.'"
Turks here boast to me that they can move throughout the city without fear of attack. I always reply, "Yes, that's because you're not viewed as a threat. You don't count." The Turks could be an enormous force for positive change here, but apparently it's not something that interests them. Sorry, but the truth is the truth. The fighting, as usual, is going to be left up to the real allies.
WTF?? WHAT. THE. F---???
By Lt Col P
Way to go, numbnut. Thanks for insulting one of our best allies.
What the hell is going on??
A Timely Reminder
By Lt Col P
Every time I glance around me at NATO afield, I wonder about the future of the alliance. However, we can always count on our old pals the Russians to chime in with a timely reminder of why there is a NATO in the first place.
Will someone please take the car keys from them? They're not fit to drive.
Tell Us Something We Don't Know
By Lt Col P
A little Gun-Day Monday action for you.
Shh! The word's getting out-- the 5.56mm round ain't all it's cracked up to be!
The study, co-written by Nicholas Drummond, a strategy consultant and ex-Welsh Guards officer, described British soldiers' rifles as "not much more useful than a peashooter".Taliban marksmen use powerful 7.62mm ammo for their AK47 machine guns, according to a report of the study in The Sun.
Aside from obvious errors in that last sentence-- AKs ain't machine guns and they really should qualify "7.62mm ammo" as being not exactly the same as the 7.62mm NATO cartridges-- there is much to be said, but little that hasn't already been said.
We've known this for a while. The accuracy is not in question. The power of the round is.
UPDATED 8 British Soldiers Return from Afghanistan
By Townie 76
There was a very moving picture in the Washington Post of the procession of eight hearses passing through the village near the RAF Airbase where they were brought in by a I believe USAF C17. I could not find the pictures, but I did find a video account. I have added a link to the Economist's article on this subject.
British Failures in Afghanistan
By Townie 76
From the Sunday Telegraph comes a very sober assessment of the failures of the United Kingdom in Afghanistan.
Almost wholly unreported until yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, there has been a dramatic change in Taliban tactics in Helmand, where some 8,500 British troops are stationed, with their headquarters in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital. On four occasions since April 21, including three in the past week, US air power has had to be called in to take out heavy machine guns, ZPU-1s and ZPU-2s, that the Taliban were installing around the town. Their purpose, as the British in Lashkar Gah are painfully aware, was all too obvious – to bring down the Chinook helicopters on which the British rely for transport and re-supply.
Given the British History in Afghanistan, they had their arses kicked twice in the 19th Century maybe this is not a surprise at all.
NATO Now Eligible for Social Security
By Lt Col P
Ahead of the summit’s formal start tomorrow, the alliance today officially added two new members -- Albania and Croatia -- raising to 28 the number of allies that will celebrate six decades since a dozen nations endorsed the North Atlantic Treaty at an April 4, 1949, ceremony here. ...Today’s enlargement of the alliance marks only the sixth time in NATO history that the collective security organization has expanded its borders. Accession by the two Balkan nations follows the addition of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania in 2004; Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 1999; Spain in 1982; West Germany in 1955; and Greece and Turkey in 1952.
The founding NATO members were the United States, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom."
Happy birthday. Now get cracking on Afstan!
New Israeli Defense Minister?
By Lt Col P
Loyal reader and occasional commenter VFRMarine sent in a note about the presumptive Defense Minister in the new Netanyahu government. While there is a bit of inside baseball that not all of us will follow readily, what's clear is that Mr Ya'alon favors a hard stance toward his more troublesome neighbors:
"Are you willing to give up the state of Israel for a prisoner?" Ya'alon asked. "The expression 'at any price' is not appropriate."He is also a known critic of accepting a cease-fire with Hamas. In a paper he wrote for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in September, he called for "intensive, medium-scale operations, and targeted killing of the [Hamas] leaders."
This policy, he said, would get Hamas to "cry for a cease-fire without conditions."
One can only hope.
Mazel tov to you, sir.
By The Way, Lafayette Says Where The Hell Y'all Been??
By Lt Col P
Who noticed THIS earlier in the week??
Stop with the jokes already; this is a significant step forward for the great Atlantic alliance, and for our oldest ally. No, I don't think peace will break out all over, or that the Russians and Iranians and Red Chi-NEE will instantly quake with fear, but I say that this is a fine development.
Yet to be determined, however, are the details: how well the French forces will integrate at all levels, in the million little realms of interoperability, from ammo DODICs to amphibious doctrine. One would think that they had have been keeping up, auditing the course so to speak, but we shall see.
In the meantime, let us raise a glass to Rochambeau, DeGrasse, Lafayette-- Gentlemen, you may now stop spinning!
(Does this mean I can start buying Grey Goose again?)
Colombian Rescue
By Slab
Some years ago, while still pressing up the hill of science, I studied the guerilla war raging in Colombia. At the time, there was a great deal of concern over whether the FARC could be beaten by Colombia's military. I read a number of sources that professed concerns over the Colombian military's professionalism and abilities.
Those concerns have been put to bed. The Colombian military is most definitely playing in the big leagues.
Like Laughing Wolf of Blackfive, my hat is off to the men who carried out one of the finest special operations in recent history.
LtCol P says... Indeed, that is one of the slickest ops in history. And remarks by the Colombian Defense Minister that intelligence agents had infiltrated the terrorists' high command is a neat piece of IO too-- if it's true, it's a real victory, and if it's not, then it's all too believable. Should cause a nice little stir amongst conspiracy-addled and purge-addicted communists.
An Unfortunate Contrast
By Slab
From The Torch comes this unfortunate look at how Great Britain has been handling her fallen, compared to the Canadian government.
British hearses carrying two Royal Marines from 40 Cdo are stuck in traffic
Flag-waving Canadians line the street to pay their respects
The Daily Mail article sheds a little light on why there is such a contrast, specifically the Thames Valley Police Force does not provide escorts for the procession. However, Canada is definitely going the extra mile for her soldiers, which I am very glad to see.
Can anyone shed light on the procedures for our casualties when they return to Dover? Specifically, how they compare to the British and Canadian examples? I know the Patriot Guard Riders frequently escort casualties to their hometown, which is a fantastic service, but it is provided by private citizens, not the government.
H/T to The Torch, and another to the Canadians for getting it right.
