It was the first major incursion by either side in the past 24 hours, in the continuing struggle for control of Panjwai district. Operation Medusa, launched four days ago to control the volatile region southwest of Kandahar city, has settled into a siege, with hundreds of Canadian troops and their allies encircling about 700 insurgents who fiercely defend their foothold near Afghanistan's second-largest city.
U.S. forces taking part in the battle said Tuesday they had killed between 50 and 60 suspected Taliban militants. NATO and Afghan officials have said about 200 insurgents have so far died in the operation.
The Canadians were forced to cancel a major attack on Monday after a U.S. warplane mistakenly fired on a group of Canadian soldiers, killing one and injuring dozens. Canadian military police say they plan to probe the incident, and will work with American investigators to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. A board of inquiry will also be established as a fact-finding effort to determine whether any changes are needed to reduce the possibility of a similar incident in the future.
The Taliban did not immediately rush to counterattack during the lull after the friendly-fire incident. By noon, the battlefield was baking under the hot sun, with nothing moving except the flames from the soldiers' garbage fires.
The stillness broke around 1 p.m., when a white sedan carrying three men in traditional Afghan dress appeared on Highway 1, driving west, deep inside the Canadians' security cordon. The sedan was stopped by Canadian soldiers, who questioned the occupants about how they ended up driving along a road already blocked by other checkpoints.
“Our guys became suspicious right off the bat,” said Major Geoff Abthorpe, commander of Bravo Company. “Then we found the gunpowder residue on their hands.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060906.wafghan06/BNStory/Afghanistan/home
[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on September 7, 2006]
Note: http://www.theglobeandm...
Canadian Troops Advance On Taliban
Posted on Wednesday, September 06 at 13:48 by 4CanadaContributed By
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Report: Taliban Taking Over Again<br />
<a href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/suri.php?articleid=9657">http://www.antiwar.com/ips/suri.php?articleid=9657</a><br />
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And over in Pakistan the government has made a peace treaty with their own Taliban supporters.<br />
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We could have helped Afghanistan but we blew that early on, now we will leave with our tails between our legs, dozens of dead soldiers in tow, and nothing to show for it but another generation of Middle Easterners who hate us for our freedoms.<p>---<br>If there was ever a time for Canadians to become pushy - now is the time - for time is running out on this nation called Canada.
Amazing story isn't it? Pakistan was given billions of US bribe money to help kick out the Taliban. It seems someone is now paying them more money to take the Taliban back into the fold, or perhaps they sense that the Afghanistan "mission" is a lost cause, so they may as well try and dig their tentacles back into the country before NATO runs away in disgrace.
"Militants from Pakistan, Chechnya and the Middle East are moving in and out of Afghanistan's southern region with ease, despite a Canadian-led siege in the area, a local leader says."<br />
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How is this possible, given the 100% air superiority the Coalition enjoys?<br />
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And given the tecnhology that allows satellites to determine the brand of cigarette soldiers are smoking?<br />
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And given the efficacy of AWACS.....?<br />
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<p>---<br>"We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both."<br />
- Justice Louis Brandeis
During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the resistance was using smoke signals to communicate. The most sophisticated technology in the Soviet arsenal could not make out the difference between a camp fire and a coded message.
In Iraq, the resistance makes remote IED detonators out of whatever remote controled devices it can find, such as radio controled childrens toys.
The actual battle is going on between peoples minds, the killing seeks to shut off minds completely, or force them into following one set of orders. The crude methods of war rearly ever works, yet a never ending supply of money is poured into ever more sophisticated ways of killing people.
Afghanistan and Iraq could have been 'won' without resorting to war. Had fair deals been negotiated, both sides would have won. As it stands, no one is winning.
So why the over reliance on military technology and warfare?
One way to make huge profits is from war. The government forceably taxes the people, and the war profiteers launder the money into 'legitimate' income through the manufacture of very expensive military technology. When the stock piles get too high, a convenient war is started to rejuvenate business. It is mindboggling that we'll support throwing people into prison for selling recreational drugs, but the selling of war and military weaponary is seen as a legimate thing to do.
It's a sick 'n twisted world we live in for sure.
It is not clear at this point whether the US has again used faulty intelligence (largely gleaned by tactics of torture which even US military leaders claims provides inaccuate information) or intentionally has misled NATO and hence lured its "allies" into a no-win situation. After the mess in Iraq you would think we would have learned not to trust the Bush Administration.
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"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche
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"We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both."
- Justice Louis Brandeis
Your joking right? They hate us because we are fat pigs who roll our fat over anyone in the way. Our way has to be superior because more people make money and money is "god". No one is worth anything other then their power of money.I doubt the Middle East is envious of us because we only consider the dollar sacred. They despise the western "culture". Newer is better and nothing is worth keeping. We've become gluttons in the supermarket and that's the only tradition we have. We watch wars on TV and voice our opinions in judgement, on our computers. We complain if the TV is to small and the computer is to slow. People like you and me are not what causes envy to those that practice their relgion 24 hous a day. Who's own culture is being sacraficed by the western culture.
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Expect little from life and get more from it.
Just as I don't want to believe that 9/11 was an inside job I don't want to believe that our government would knowingly sacrifice our troops for US imperialism. Granted, new conservative principles require deference to the superior power so it is more likely that we have accepted a more dangerous role in deference to the superior "class" represented by the US administration but I really don't want to believe it.