RP Listener Forum

Posted: Apr 24, 2006 - 1:44am

Cargo plane crashes in Afghanistan wrote:

...
An official who declined to be named said the cargo plane appeared to have been used by counter-narcotic forces employed by the U.S. government.

A U.S. embassy official said he was investigating.

Helmand is the main drug producing region of Afghanistan.

Ollie?

Posted: Apr 22, 2006 - 3:43pm

Afghan blast kills Canada troops

Posted: Apr 15, 2006 - 1:29am

Stolen military data for sale in Afghanistan

Posted: Apr 10, 2006 - 12:24pm

Taliban killed Costall:

AfghanSituation 'getting worse' in Canadian area, officer says

KANDAHAR - An Afghan National Police officer involved in the review of the Battle of Forward Operating Base Robinson says Taliban gunfire killed both a young Canadian machine-gunner and an American medic...

On April 4, six days after that fierce engagement was concluded and Taliban attackers repelled for the last time, Brigadier-General David Fraser told reporters here that there was a possibility "friendly fire" might have caused the two coalition deaths, and perhaps some of the wounds sustained by five other coalition soldiers, including three Canadians.

It appears those early concerns were raised when Fraser - overall commander for Task Force Aegis, the coalition force operating in six southern Afghanistan provinces - visited the injured immediately after they were evacuated to the multinational hospital at Kandahar Airfield.

Formal investigations were launched by Canada, the United States and Afghanistan because those three countries had troops within the satellite base when it came under a well-coordinated attack from multiple directions. The FOB is located in the midst of lush poppy fields cultivated in the rich Helmand Valley.

Helmand Province, just west of Kandahar Province, is the central opium-producing region of Afghanistan and thus a font of funding for the Taliban.

Read about the battle here.

Who's buying all the opium and the heroin that it is used to produce?

Posted: Apr 10, 2006 - 12:15pm

*bump*

RichardPrins wrote:

Afghanistan Five Years Later

I thought some of this was worth quoting, although not everybody will like the source:

Afghanistan Five Years Later

By Mike Whitney

02/02/06 "ICH" -- -- Five years after toppling the fanatical Taliban, Hamid Karzai is expected to sign an agreement for economic assistance with more than 60 donor countries. The Afghanistan Compact is just the latest of many plans to restore security to the war-torn nation and revive the fragile economy. It is a poignant reminder that the Bush administrationÂs promises to rebuild the country and establish democracy have never been realized.

Afghanistan has been a policy disaster from the get-go. The country is ravaged by war and unemployment, security beyond the capital of Kabul is virtually nonexistent, and malnutrition rates are higher among children anywhere other than sub-Saharan Africa. Now, Karzai, who has seen his funding from the US consistently slashed year after year, must take his begging bowl to the world community; asking for the crumbs they can spare to bandage his failed-state together.

Afghanistan excels in one thing alone; the production and export of opium, a booming business which now
provides 90% of the worldÂs heroin.

End of Quote.

(Under the Taliban, hated as they deserved to be, the opium trade had almost disappeared. Now it is the only way for many agricultural and rural families to survive. The warlords prosper and European and North American heroin users are once again assured of high quality supply. Has the Afghanistan mission failed?)

Posted: Apr 10, 2006 - 9:23am

For Steeler:

A nice shiny black one.

Posted: Apr 10, 2006 - 8:35am

CanuckBeaker wrote:

La la la la la. Not going there. Nope. Nice, but lame try Steeler. Now offer up some genuine on-topic-for-this-thread discussion points and you might engage me in discussion. Until then, you can rest in the plonk zone.

Try the first paragraph. It is directly on point to your post, which seemed to imply that the Captain was providing information and insight not readily reported or attainable. I also made the point that the Taliban has made it known, almost from the beginning, that it would outlast the Americans in Afghanistan. The notion of a war of attrition, therefore, is not a revelation. The strategic blunder of letting many of the Taliban leaders escape after the initial strike has been underscored. News of growing dissent in the U.S. -- and Canada -- obviously makes the Taliban feel more confident in their strategy. Lastly, I made the point that our democracy does not leave room for the stifling of dissent.

As for the 2nd paragraph, it is directly related to what the Captain wrote about, and which you posted with admiration, stating your view that it constitutes "clear thinking." He is saying the Canadians (and the Americans) need to stay the course, and he cites current Commons debate over deployment in Afghanistan as being a show of weakness. I am asking you, as a Canadian citizen, what you think about that, what you think your government should do, and how you are making your views known to your government.

How do you see these points as being unrelated to what you posted?

Posted: Apr 10, 2006 - 8:27am

CanuckBeaker wrote:

Now here's an example of why I read blogs like Captain's Quarters - straightahead clear thinking.

This is obvious and old news. The guerilla model of warfare has been en vogue since Vietnam. It comes as no surprise that the Taliban views this as a war of attrition, so to speak, and the same has been reported numerous times in the media, virtually from the outset. In a democracy, with a vibrant and free press, news of domestic unrest and growing dissatisfaction with a war cannot be stifled.

As a Canadian, what you are doing to make your voice known as to why your government should keep its troops in Afgahnistan, and what are you doing to try to convince the Canadian government that Canada should reverse its decision not to join the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq?

Posted: Apr 9, 2006 - 4:31am

owld_skipper wrote:

Are things intensifying?

Yes.

The west has been one of the most peaceful parts of the country, with Taliban attacks largely confined to the south and east, but in recent months the militants have appeared to be extending their operations into the west and north.

But more 'clean-up troops' should arrive soon...

Posted: Apr 9, 2006 - 3:01am

The Beat Goes On.

Kandahar Hit By Double Bombing.

Are things intensifying?

Posted: Apr 5, 2006 - 3:41am

RichardPrins wrote:

Afghanistan Five Years Later

I thought some of this was worth quoting, although not everybody will like the source:

Afghanistan Five Years Later

By Mike Whitney

02/02/06 "ICH" -- -- Five years after toppling the fanatical Taliban, Hamid Karzai is expected to sign an agreement for economic assistance with more than 60 donor countries. The Afghanistan Compact is just the latest of many plans to restore security to the war-torn nation and revive the fragile economy. It is a poignant reminder that the Bush administrationÂs promises to rebuild the country and establish democracy have never been realized.

Afghanistan has been a policy disaster from the get-go. The country is ravaged by war and unemployment, security beyond the capital of Kabul is virtually nonexistent, and malnutrition rates are higher among children anywhere other than sub-Saharan Africa. Now, Karzai, who has seen his funding from the US consistently slashed year after year, must take his begging bowl to the world community; asking for the crumbs they can spare to bandage his failed-state together.

Afghanistan excels in one thing alone; the production and export of opium, a booming business which now
provides 90% of the worldÂs heroin.

End of Quote.

(Under the Taliban, hated as they deserved to be, the opium trade had almost disappeared. Now it is the only way for many agricultural and rural families to survive. The warlords prosper and European and North American heroin users are once again assured of high quality supply. Has the Afghanistan mission failed?)

Posted: Apr 4, 2006 - 5:22pm

Afghanistan Five Years Later

Posted: Apr 4, 2006 - 3:35pm

CanuckBeaker wrote:

And I disagree. I'm completely certain "where we are in pursuit of that cause".
... But I have no interest in debating the topic further.

Fair 'nuff?

So, I guess that will be your little secret.

Posted: Apr 4, 2006 - 9:42am

CanuckBeaker wrote:

Here's where we part ways. Afghanistan remains a noble and just cause. And crucially important. ...

I don't recall saying that it is not a noble cause, I only said that it is worth pondering where we are in the pursuit of that cause.

Posted: Apr 4, 2006 - 9:22am

CanuckBeaker wrote:

Yes, Pat Tillman's death probably needs a further investigation. But your choice to use a source that engages in Bush-bashing and highlight same Bush-bashing, really reduces the perception that you possess any impartiallity at all, or at least to these eyes.

.... To suggest that Bush is responsible in any way for the incident is to reveal your bias with certitude.

Ah C-B! I don't think the piece suggests at all that Bush is responsible for the incident (aside from any responsibility he bears as Commander-in-Chief). What the write-up points to is the fact that the story promoted by the military and supported by the White House was inaccurate and a misrepresentation of the facts. Just as the story originally promoted by the military and the White House about Jessica Lynch was inaccurate and a misrepresentation of the facts.

Do you not find it interesting that the Administration spends as much money as the Office of Accountability says that it spends on shaping and spinning the news?

Unlike your good self C-B, I make no claims about being unbiased and impartial. I believe that the airman who dropped the bomb that killed the Canadian troops on the ground in Afghanistan disobeyed his orders. I believe that the White House misrepresents and twists the facts to suit its public relations purposes. I believe that the American people have been lied to by their government. I believe that the American people deserve better than they are getting from this administration.

Whether or not you think I am impartial or credible is immaterial. Whether or not you like the news sources that I refer to is also immaterial. After all, I'm just an ineffectual voice in the wilderness here, without a constituency and without a program. Were it not for the internet, you would not even know what I might be thinking and how I might be biased.

What is material is the truth and the facts. That it will take five or more investigations to sort out the details surrounding Pat Tillman's death is, to my way of thinking, a strong indictment of the way the truth and the facts are being treated by this President and his administration. What concerns me is that in the long run we all be worse off as a result.

I post to this thread because I believe that Afghanistan is crucially important, but gets forgotten by many of us. I also post here because Canadian forces are on the ground there, allied with American troops and others in what started out as a noble enterprise. Where that enterprise stands now is something that is worth pondering. Caveat emptor, I am not impartial and my views may exhibit bias.

That said C-B, what are your biases?

Posted: Apr 4, 2006 - 8:28am

CanuckBeaker wrote:

And now the attack is under investigation as a possible incident of friendly fire. That's just wonderful. :(

See my post below about Pat Tillman's death.

Friendly fire

Posted: Apr 4, 2006 - 6:10am

Still wondering how Pat Tillman died?

As written by Margaret Carlson:

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Get Pat Tillman's story right

MARGARET CARLSON
BLOOMBERG NEWS

How many investigations does it take to get to the bottom of the sad story of Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger and former star football player for the Arizona Cardinals who died in Afghanistan in 2004?

As many as it takes to get it right. Under pressure, the Army has held three so far and said last week it was embarking upon two more. One is a review of previous investigations that have the smell of a cover-up. The second is a criminal probe into possible charges of negligent homicide.

Tillman's body was riddled with so many bullets, it raises the question of whether someone was "firing a weapon when they should not have been," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said March 5 on "Meet the Press." ...

...You can see the Army's motive in "erring" in its first account. In a war that's losing public support, the military searches for heroes wherever it can find them. It's why they built Army Priv. Jessica Lynch into a female Terminator with guns blazing until she recovered enough to eventually tell the less dramatic version of her wounding in Iraq.

She's a hero, nonetheless, like the thousands of kids in harm's way. The truth just wasn't good enough for the military.

Tillman, who would have insisted on telling the truth, wasn't around to do so, so the Army brass kept its secret as long as it could....

...Although Bush, whose policy is to hide returning coffins from public sight, broke his silence to extol Tillman, he has yet to acknowledge that the military publicized a tale that wasn't true about a tragedy that was.

This is of a piece with the sophisticated and massive Bush propaganda operation, which, according to a partial review by the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, has spent an astounding $1.6 billion in the last 30 months on spinning and weaving events, including paying journalists to write laudatory op-ed pieces and filming fake newscasts. Of that amount, the Pentagon spent $1.1 billion....

...It makes you wonder whether government deception has taken such root and flourishes so readily that no specific instructions are needed. Are there standing orders to invent and then defend a lie to burnish the commander-in-chief, or did a bunch of officials get together and think this one up? Does anyone any longer know that there are things about which you absolutely must tell the truth, so help you God, with no resort to your PR machine?

If a soldier is taught he can't lie to his superiors but they can lie to the public to protect those higher up, what kind of citizens does our Army send home to us? War is hell, whether a patriot like Tillman dies at the hands of the enemy or because of a mistake. Not even a billion dollars can cover that up.

Posted: Apr 3, 2006 - 7:39am

More news from the forgotten war....

It's getting harder and harder to build infrstructure in Afghanistan.

'Taleban' kill Turkish engineer

The engineer was pulled from his car and shot when travelling along the border of Farah and Nimroz provinces.

His body was set alight by the militants, an official said.

Militants have repeatedly attacked US-funded road works in Afghanistan and have killed or kidnapped several foreign workers in the past year.

The Turkish engineer was travelling with three police guards on Sunday when gunmen in another car forced their vehicle to stop.

The three guards were released.

(wonder how they knew where to find him)

Posted: Mar 31, 2006 - 10:15am

Blasts rock Canadian base

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Â For the fourth straight day, Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan came under fire early Friday, as three loud explosions shook Kandahar airfield.

The blasts, which occurred shortly after 3 a.m. local time, were caused by three 107 millimetre rockets which landed inside the airfield's security fence, the military said.

It is the second night-time attack on the base this week. Neither attack caused any damages or injuries.

An army spokesman described the incident as harassing fire, the type of attack meant to disrupt base operations and rattle troops.

"I think if you ask around, this is precisely what we train for," said Maj. Scott Lundy.

Posted: Mar 30, 2006 - 4:28am

Jill is alive!