[andyt]

raydan wrote:

Personally, I don't see anybody that has the will and resources to totally defeat them. Besides, you'd need a "real" commitment from the inside (government and people), and I don't see that happening.

NATO could muster all the will and resources it could possibly have and it could not defeat the Taliban in Astan. This isn't a war where you defeat an army and destroy a country's infrastructure to sap civilian will to win.

You can't solve Astan without Pstan, and I don't see anybody with bright ideas for doing that.

[BartSimpson]

andyt wrote:

We are killing them. Are you really saying that NATO can't win in Astan because we haven't been brutal enough against the Taliban fighters?

Yep. In World War Two the Allies fought the Nazis right up to their bitter end and with Japan they didn't capitulate until they realized the futility of banzai charges against atomic bombs.

The Germans and the Japanese were captivated by ideology and it wasn't the people we had to defeat, it was the idea.

With the Taliban what is needed is to demonstrate to them in a calculated manner that their god is not all-powerful and that their god will not prevail. Now if that can be done without violence I absofrickinlutely will be the first to sign on and cheer it on. However, I'm more practical and I realize that what's needed is overwhelming and persistently punitive and vindictive force to make believers...or unbelievers...out of these people.

So long as they think they can defeat us and so long as we're unwilling to match their actions they'll see us as cowards and they'll NEVER moderate their actions.

Now you may see me as unreasonable, but again, I look to history.

Had Hitler been humbled in 1938 or if Japan had been humbled in 1937 the world would be a much different place.

What I see with the Taliban is an undefeated enemy who will one day hit us harder than we ever imagined. And history will look at us and wonder what the hell we were thinking when we didn't squelch these mutts when we had the chance.

Oh, and next time I expect we'll nuke them and at that point I'll find fault because our lack of resolve today will lead to a needless escalation tomorrow.

Just like what happened with the Nazis and the Japanese militarists.

[martin14]

BartSimpson wrote:

The Germans and the Japanese were captivated by ideology and it wasn't the people we had to defeat, it was the idea.

Kill a third, re-locate a third, re-educate a third.

[Batsy]

The soldier has been named as 20 year old Scott McLaren of The Highlanders.

Highlander McLaren was snatched and executed by the Taliban yesterday after he inexplicably wandered off alone from a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan.


Victim: Highlander McLaren

Abdul Ahad Helmandwal, a local elder, said Highlander McLaren was grabbed by insurgents near the village of Kopak and killed a short distance away.

He said: 'They took his body to show the other Taliban that they had killed a British soldier. The other Taliban kicked the body and they threw him in the canal.'

But General Sayed Malook, commander of Afghan forces in Helmand, claimed Highlander McLaren drowned going for a 2am swim in the nearby Nahr-e Bughra canal.

He said the abuse happened after locals pulled the body from the canal: 'When they found the body the Taliban in the area started trampling on him, stabbing him and even shot him.'

But senior UK defence sources dismissed the claims. They said Highlander McLaren had 'died of two gunshot wounds', including one to the back of the head that indicated he was executed.

One insider cast doubt on the suggestion he had gone swimming: 'Who'd go for a dip in the middle of the night on their own in an area littered with IEDs?'

His commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Aitken added: 'He was a man with a big heart and a true friend to many. He was trusted by all and had a heart of gold.'

Major James Cross, Officer Commanding D Company, said: 'Highlander McLaren's death has come as a huge blow to all of us who have had the privilege of serving alongside him.'

Lieutenant Colonel James de Labilliere, commanding officer of Combined Force Nahr-e-Saraj (South) and 1st Battalion, The Rifles, said the soldier had been tasked with 'some of the most demanding' work during his month-long attachment.

Captain Callum MacLeod, Officer Commanding Fire Support Group and Multiple Commander, D Company, said Highlander McLaren was the perfect example of 'what makes a Scottish soldier great'.

'He was cool under pressure and unrelenting in the face of the enemy,' the senior officer said.

'The Multiple has been robbed of a friend, and the Battalion of a talent that was only just beginning to shine.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... gents.html

[SprCForr]

RiP

[martin14]

Scottish guy, all Highland Regiments are now one, the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

It's now part of 7th Armoured Brigade, which explains the mouse on his upper arm.

What used to be 7th Armoured Division, the 'Desert Rats'.


In late '43, when 7th Armoured was pulled out of Italy to prepare for Normandy,
they left their equipment behind, getting brand new stuff in England.

Their old, worn out junk was given to the Canadian 5th...


RIP son, you were much too young.

[Zipperfish]

Geez. Just a kid.

[Canadian_Mind]

BartSimpson wrote:

PublicAnimalNo9 wrote:

Hate to say but the info I got came from a Russian source, not the western media.

My source was about the same. And the toys in question generally had C4 and not Semtex in them (and that means something).

Semtex grenade on a goat head during the afghan part of the Modern Warfare 2 campaign? I don't member that either.



Mclaren, RIP.