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wartsttocs
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 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | DOD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Sean M. Walsh, 21, of San Jose, Calif., died Nov. 16, in Khowst province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained after encountering indirect fire. He was assigned to the 185th Military Police Battalion, 49th Military Police Brigade, Pittsburg, Calif. |
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14923 |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Lieutenant David Alexander Grant Boyce and Lance Corporal Richard Scanlon, both from 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday 17 November 2011.
Both soldiers were serving with the Formation Reconnaissance Squadron. They were on a patrol providing security in the Yakchal region of Nahr-e-Saraj, in Central Helmand, when their armoured vehicle struck an Improvised Explosive Device. Tragically, both men were killed in the resulting explosion. |
Read more: link |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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ISAF casualty
| Quote: | 2011-11-C-031
ISAF Joint Command - Afghanistan
For Immediate Release
KABUL, Afghanistan (Nov. 18, 2011) – An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan Friday.
It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities.
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http://www.isaf.nato.int/article/casualty-report/isaf-casualty-388.html |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Roadside bomb in Afghanistan kills 4 Ind. National Guardsmen
| Quote: | INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Four soldiers with an Indiana-based National Guard unit were killed in Afghanistan and a fifth was injured when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb as they were working to clear a supply route of the improvised bombs, guard officials said Saturday. Indiana Adjutant General Martin Umbarger said the four members of the Valparaiso-based 713th Engineer Company died Thursday morning in southern Afghanistan. He said all of the men were combat engineers who specialized in clearing major supply routes.
The blast occurred as their vehicle traveled along a road, scouting for signs of roadside bombs and other potential problems convoys might encounter as the move supplies in the decade-long war in Afghanistan, Umbarger said.
"Their mission is to keep the major supply routes clear of all obstacles for the convoys. And what that means is they're the first ones to go out to make sure the route can be used, so it's a very important mission — but it's also extremely dangerous," he told The Associated Press.
The four men killed were identified as: Staff Sgt. Jonathan M. Metzger, 32, of Indianapolis, Spc. Brian J. Leonhardt, 21, of Merrillville, Ind., Spc. Robert J. Tauteris Jr., 44, of Hamlet, Ind., and Spc. Christopher A. Patterson, 20, of Aurora, Ill.
A fifth soldier injured in the blast, Pvt. Douglas Rachowicz, 29, of Hammond, Ind., was initially treated at a military base hospital in Kandahar before being airlifted to the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, Umbarger said.
He said the four soldiers' deaths were the greatest number of Indiana guards since March 2005, when four members of the Indianapolis-based 76th Infantry Brigade died when a land mine exploded under their military vehicle about 30 miles south of the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a statement that Umbarger called him Saturday morning to tell him of the deaths. The governor said he's praying for the soldiers' families.
"I received from the adjutant general the news a person in my job dreads the most, that we have lost soldiers in combat. I had begun to hope that I had received the last such phone call, and cannot convey the sadness which it instantly brought," Daniels said.
"My prayers are joined with those of millions of Hoosiers who will hear this terrible news with deep grief but also with gratitude for the courage of those we have lost, and pride that we come from a state that produces men such as these," he said.
Umbarger said the four soldiers' families were informed Friday of the deaths, and the last family members were told the news Friday night. He said he's "humbled and honored" by the courage of the nation's service members and said the sacrifices of the four men won't be forgotten.
"I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of these brave citizen-soldiers," he said in a statement. "We will honor their sacrifice and always remember them." |
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2012-01-07/indiana-national-guardsmen-killed/52437304/1 |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:39 am Post subject: |
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Four French troops die in Afghanistan shooting
| Quote: | Four French troops have been killed in northern Afghanistan after a soldier from the Afghan National Army opened fire, local officials say.
Sixteen more members of the French armed forces were injured in the incident in the Tagab district of Kapisa province, north of Kabul.
The Afghan soldier has been arrested by the French.
President Nicolas Sarkozy said France was suspending its training programmes in Afghanistan following the attack.
According to AFP, the president said that the question of an early French withdrawal from the country is being considered.
An Afghan official told the BBC: "This is a tragic incident, a sad and tragic day for us and for Nato."
Nato confirmed in a statement that four of its troops had been killed, and that a suspect had been apprehended, but gave no further details.
Incidents of Nato soldiers being shot by their Afghan colleagues have increased in recent months.
In a separate development, a Nato helicopter has crashed in southern Afghanistan killing six troops. The nationalities of those killed has not been disclosed, but they are believed to be American.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for that incident, but a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said there was no enemy activity in the area at the time.
Five French soldiers were killed by a suicide bomb while on patrol in the Tagab district of Kapisa in July 2011.
French troops have been part of the Nato-led operation in Afghanistan since 2001 and currently has 3,600 troops involved in its operations there.
President Sarkozy announced in July that 1,000 troops would be withdrawn from the country by the end of 2012. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16645251 |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:47 am Post subject: |
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6 US forces dead in Afghan copter crash
| Quote: | A US-led NATO helicopter has crashed in southern Afghanistan, leaving six American service personnel dead, US officials say.
The helicopter, a CH-53 Sea Stallion, went down in Helmand province, one official said on the condition of anonymity in the early hours of Friday.
Another official has confirmed that all the dead are members of the US military.
The official added that according to initial indications the crash was not the result of an enemy fire.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a brief statement that the cause of the crash was "under investigation."
It added that “initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash.”
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the incident, but in August 2011 Taliban fighters shot down a US Chinook helicopter.
In that incident, thirty American troops died, including 17 Navy SEALs and five other Navy sailors assigned to the SEAL unit. The attack also killed seven Afghan troops and an interpreter. |
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222032.html |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:45 am Post subject: |
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February 23, 2012
Danny Davis Didn’t Tell the Half of It
Pentagon as Lying Machine
by ANDREW COCKBURN
Washington DC
| Quote: | Serving U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Danny Davis has been attracting notoriety following his courageous statement that senior military commanders have been systematically deceiving the American people about the war in Afghanistan. As he points out, breezy assertions of “momentum,” and “progress,” as well as “hard fought achievements,” are belied not only by his personal observations in the field but also by easily available public information, most strikingly the remorseless up-tick of casualty statistics and enemy attacks even after the “surge” of the last few years.
But Davis has also cited an example of official military mendacity unrelated to Afghanistan that deserves more attention, since it is part of a pattern that will not go away when the troops come home. In 2007 he was assigned to work on an enormous army weapons program known as Future Combat Systems. It consisted of an assortment of manned and unmanned air and ground vehicles linked by computer networks that could automatically identify enemy targets so unerringly, according to proponents, that our vehicles would need little armor.
Despite repeated test failures, witheringly chronicled in regular reports from the General Accounting Office, senior army commanders testified with equal regularity that all was well, even
displaying what was essentially a dummy in front of the Capitol as a “real” armored component of FCS. As Davis states in his leaked unclassified report “Dereliction of Duty,” when faced with “failure after failure in physical tests” the generals “willingly and knowingly misrepresented the matter to congress.” The program relieved taxpayers of some $20 billion before defense secretary Robert Gates finally cancelled it in 2009.
Unfortunately, procurement mendacity did not begin with that ill-starred program, nor, seemingly, did it end with its timely demise. Former inmates of the defense establishment may recall staunch official denials of bygone scandals such as the C-5A air transport cost overruns, memorably revealed by a senior air force management official, A. Ernest Fitzgerald – a commission of truth that promptly got him fired – or the Divad anti-aircraft gun, heroically defended by its army sponsors even after it mistook an outhouse fan for an enemy helicopter and ceased to function in wet weather.
It might be hoped that the urgent needs of our troops fighting in Afghanistan would spark a note of realism regarding the systems developed to help them. Sadly, such is not the case. The home-made bombs constructed with farm fertilizer and torch batteries that are the Taliban’s principal and devastatingly effective weapon have sparked many a multi-million dollar countermeasure on our part. One such is a surveillance system grandiosely christened Gorgon Stare. Developed at a cost of $320 million, and carried on Reaper drones, it allegedly enables us, as one air force general boasted when it was first unveiled, “to see everything” over a ten square-kilometer area, including insurgents planting bombs.
However, a December 2010 report on Gorgon Stare by a specialized air force testing unit, the 53D Wing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, deemed the system “not operationally effective” and “not operationally suitable.” Its camera images could not distinguish humans from bushes, nor one vehicle from another. It had severe problems determining where it was. It broke down an average of 3.7 times per sortie. The testing unit strongly recommended it not be deployed. Undeterred by the news that their system didn’t work, the Air Force deployed Gorgon Stare to Afghanistan in February 2011, certainly not enough time to have fixed its major technological shortcomings. Nevertheless, Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Larry James has declared without a blush that Gorgon Stare has been a “tremendous success since it was introduced last spring,” a claim that was repeated to me in response to detailed questions on whether the Air Force has overcome the fundamental problems unearthed by its own testers.
I emailed a marine currently deployed in the battleground of northern Helmand if his experience justified General James’ confidence. “I’ve never even heard of Gorgon Stare, let alone seen it in use,” he replied. “We’re essentially using the same technology that men used in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam to defeat mine and booby trap threats – the eyeball and metal detector.”
Withdrawal from Afghanistan must mean that commanders will not longer feel the need to claim battlefield successes that are not there. It would be nice to think that the compulsion to make no less misleading claims about vastly expensive weapons programs will also disappear, but history suggests otherwise.
ANDREW COCKBURN has been covering the US military for more than three decades. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, forthcoming from AK Press. He can be reached at amcockburn@gmail.com |
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/23/pentagon-as-lying-machine/ |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 10:30 am Post subject: |
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Nato says two soldiers shot dead in Afghanistan
| Quote: | Nato says two of its soldiers have been shot dead on a base in southern Afghanistan.
It said the shooting in Kandahar Province was carried out by an Afghan National Army service member and another attacker in civilian clothing.
But officials in Zheray district say only one man - who was on the base to teach Afghans literacy - opened fire.
Six Nato personnel have been killed since protests erupted last week over the burning of the Koran by US troops.
The Nato personnel are among more than 30 people who have died in the protests over the past week.
The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says it is unclear how a teacher was allowed to stay on the base and have access to a weapon.
Hours earlier the head of Nato forces in Afghanistan, Gen John Allen, told the BBC that recent violence over the burning of the Koran by US soldiers was a "setback" that would be overcome.
Gen Allen said he would be willing to walk, unarmed, into the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul, where two Nato military advisers were shot dead on Saturday.
Last Thursday, two US soldiers were shot and killed by a man wearing Afghan army uniform during protests at a Nato base in eastern Nangarhar province.
A senior Afghan general told the BBC last week: "The virus of Taliban infiltration and rogue soldiers has spread like a cancer. Curing it has not helped. You need an operation."
More than 70 Nato troops have been killed by Afghan colleagues in recent years. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17218152 |
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Yuri
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 6:15 pm Post subject: |
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Lest anyone should go froggy. Or is that fraggy?
The writing is on the wall: time to leave!
Marines told to disarm before Panetta speech
By Larry Shaughnessy, pool producer on the Panetta trip to Afghanistan
Marines waiting for Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to speak at Camp Leatherneck were ordered by Sgt Maj. Brandon Hall to go out and leave their weapons outside the room. Panetta arrived in Afghanistan Wednesday for a two-day visit amidst heightened tensions after an American soldier was alleged to have killed 16 Afghan civilians.
It was an unusual request as it is not customary to disarm for a defense secretary visits.
The Marines did as they were told. There were about two dozen Afghan soldiers in attendance who were unarmed.
Hall was told to do so by Maj. Gen. Mark Gurganus, who commands troops in Helmand province. Asked about the order to disarm, Hall told the New York Times's Elisabeth Bumiller: “Somebody got itchy, that’s all I’ve got to say. Somebody got itchy; we just adjust.” The Times was told
Gurganus later told reporters the decision had nothing to do with this weekend's shooting.
“This is not a big deal," Gurganus said. But he then added that "you’ve got one of the most important people in the world in the room," referring to Panetta.
Gurganus said reason to disarm was that the Afghan soldiers in attendance were unarmed and he did not want them treated differently than the Marines.
"There's a new sheriff in town," Gurganus, who is new to the post, responded when asked why he ordered them to leave their weapons outside the room when it was not what had been done previously.
Source: http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/14/marines-told-to-disarm-before-panetta-speech/
This from CNN's Security Blogs which, under the circumstances, may as well have been in CNN's pray-like-hell Faith Blogs 
Let it also be noted that footwear was not banned at the Panetta speech. It could be that Panetta is considered to be as adept at dodging flying shoes as was RaisinBrain.
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Don Smith
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| Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:24 am Post subject: |
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one of the most important people in the world
By association, therefore, these witless wonders are doing the work of the most important people in the world.
I am always knocked breathless by such bravado, these fools would have staffed Hitler's Berlin bunker.
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" A bayonet is a tool with a worker at both ends."- Lenin
Patriotism is a manifestation of the Stockholm Syndrome.
"How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it."
-Thoreau
"Information is the currency of Democracy." Jefferson |
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Yuri
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| Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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| CNN wrote: | Afghanistan attacks kill 2 NATO members
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A NATO servicemember was shot to death by a gunman in an Afghan army uniform Sunday in southern Afghanistan, the allied command in Kabul reported.
The attacker was killed by coalition forces who returned fire, NATO's International Security Assistance Force reported. An investigation was under way, ISAF said, and no further details were immediately released.
In a separate attack, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, killing one American and wounding two, a Western official said. The bombing happened about 10 km (6 miles) south of an outpost in Paktia province, near the Pakistani border, the official said.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force initially reported three deaths from from an improvised explosive device Sunday, but later revised the toll to one. It did not identify the victim or nationality.
More than 1,900 Americans and another 1,000-plus allied troops have died in the 10-year-old conflict to date. The current year has seen a number of attacks on coalition forces by Afghan forces or by insurgents who have disguised themselves as Afghan troops, fueling distrust at a critical period of the conflict.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/06/world/asia/afghanistan-troops-killed/index.html
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 10:09 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Man in Afghan army uniform wounds five Nato soldiers
An individual wearing Afghan army uniform shot and wounded five Nato soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the alliance says.
The five, believed to be American, are receiving medical treatment. The extent of their injuries is not known.
The attack took place at a Nato base in Wardak province, east of Kabul.
It is the latest in a series of so-called "green-on-blue" attacks, where Afghans in the police or army attack international forces.
More than 20 foreign personnel have been killed in rogue shootings in Afghanistan this year.
On Sunday, three British soldiers were shot and killed by an Afghan policeman as they left a checkpoint in Helmand province, in the south.
International forces are gradually handing over responsibility for security to their Afghan counterparts.
Most of the 130,000 Nato-led troops will leave at the end of 2014.
On Tuesday, the US and Pakistan announced that Nato supply routes into Afghanistan would re-open after Washington apologised for killing 24 Pakistani soldiers last November.
The BBC's Kim Ghattas, in Washington, says the US had resisted saying sorry as there is deep anger among Americans about the death of US soldiers in Afghanistan from attacks by militant groups with alleged connections to Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency.
The decision on supply lines will save the US hundreds of millions of dollars in the run-up to withdrawal. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18701210 |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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6 US soldiers killed by roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan
| Quote: | At least six US soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in eastern region of Afghanistan, NATO and US sources say.
"Six International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members died following an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Afghanistan today," ISAF said in a statement on Sunday, which did not provide their nationalities.
However, in Washington, a government official said all the dead soldiers were from the United States.
The ISAF statement also said that earlier on Sunday another US-led soldier was killed in southern Afghanistan in a similar assault, bringing the day's death toll to seven.
The increasing number of military casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the US and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the Afghan war.
According to the website icasualties.org, a total of 228 foreign troops, 165 of them US personnel, have lost their lives in Afghanistan so far this year.
A total of 566 US-led forces died in Afghanistan in 2011. However, 2010 remains the deadliest year for foreign military casualties, with a death toll of 711.
Insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan, despite the presence of about 130,000 US-led forces in the country.
On Sunday, as many as 28 civilians and policemen were killed in southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces of the war-torn country.
The United Nations announced on February 4 that 2011 was the deadliest on record for Afghan civilians. The death toll rose eight percent compared to the year before and was roughly double the figure for 2007.
Overall, 3,021 civilians died in violence related to the war and 4,507 were wounded in 2011. |
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/08/250002/6-us-troops-slain-in-eastern-afghanistan/ |
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Yuri
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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Source: Afghan policeman kills 3 Americans
From Masoud Popalzai, CNN - Sun July 22, 2012
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An Afghan policeman opened fire at a training center in western Afghanistan on Sunday, killing three Americans, a police official told CNN.
The Afghan official, who declined to be named, said the three victims were most probably trainers at the West Zone Police Training Center in Herat province. The shooter was also killed, the official said.
Afghanistan execution sparks outrage
NATO spokesman Maj. Adam Wojack said the three killed were civilian contractors working for the International Security Assistance Force. He could not confirm their nationality or what their specific jobs were.
The NATO version differed somewhat from what the Afghan official reported. According to Wojack, the gunman was wearing an Afghan army uniform, and one attacker was killed and another fled.
The Afghan police official said it was not immediately known whether the attacker had links to any insurgent groups. The motive for the shooting was also unknown.
More information will be released Monday, he said.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/22/world/asia/afghanistan-shooting/index.htm
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| Quote: | | The Afghan police official said it was not immediately known whether the attacker had links to any insurgent groups. The motive for the shooting was also unknown. |
If this shooter had been killed in a drone strike, we'd already have been told whether he was an insurgent or not. You see, the U.S. military has an uncanny ability to divine such innocence or guilt post-mortem amid the wreckage of a Hellfire missile explosion. But when an Afghan or Pakistani is killed by small arms fire ..... well, then it's anyone's guess.
As to motive? Also up in the air. It may have something to do with the foreign occupation - but such a line of thinking would be entirely speculative. 
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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US soldiers killed in Afghanistan Helmand attack
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Three US soldiers have been killed and one injured by a gunman wearing uniform in Helmand province, Nato has said.
Afghan officials told the BBC that the three were special forces members shot in the Sangin area late on Thursday.
The exact circumstances are unclear. Nato says it is the latest in a series of "green-on-blue" attacks, where men wearing Afghan army uniforms turn their guns on coalition troops.
But local officials say the three were killed by an elder they were meeting.
The elder said he wanted to join the police but in reality was a Taliban infiltrator, the officials told the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul.
Green on blue
A Nato spokeswoman told the Reuters news agency that it was too early to say whether it was a "rogue shooting or due to insurgent infiltration".
"All we know is that they were killed by an Afghan in a uniform of some sort," the spokeswoman said.
Throughout 2012 there has been a dramatic jump in "green-on-blue" killings, amounting to an average of one a week.
On Tuesday a US Nato soldier was killed by two gunmen wearing Afghan army uniform in eastern Afghanistan.
The attacks have led to a serious erosion of trust between Nato and Afghan forces.
In a separate incident on Friday, a roadside bomb killed at least six civilians - including women and children - in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province, local police chief Farid Ahmad Farhang told the BBC.
Also on Friday, the US government identified four Americans who died on Wednesday in an attack by two men wearing suicide vests in eastern Afghanistan.
Air Force Maj Walter Gray from the state of Georgia, Army Major Thomas Kennedy from New York, and Command Sgt Maj Kevin Griffin of Wyoming were named by the Department of Defense.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the fourth victim was Ragaei Abdelfattah of the US Agency for International Development.
Her statement said three coalition service members and an Afghan civilian were also killed, and a state department diplomat was hurt.
Mrs Clinton condemned the attack, which the Taliban said they had carried out. |
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19205894 |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:48 am Post subject: |
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7 US troops among 11 killed in Black Hawk helicopter crash
By LAURA KING AND DAVID S. CLOUD | Los Angeles Times
| Quote: | KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed in restive Kandahar province Thursday, killing seven American troops and four Afghans, U.S. and Afghan military officials said.
Afghan officials said the crash site was in Shah Wali Kot, a volatile district where insurgents have long been active.
The NATO force said the cause of the crash was under investigation, and was tight-lipped about whether insurgent fire had been reported in the area. Usually, the military makes a quick announcement if there is no indication the craft was brought down by enemy fire, and if factors such as weather or mechanical failure are suspected.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for bringing down the helicopter, but the group routinely boasts of shooting down any NATO aircraft that crashes. The Taliban and other militant groups have only rarely been able to bring down Western helicopters during the decade-old war, but manage to do so occasionally, often with significant fatalities.
A U.S. military officer in Afghanistan said it was possible the helicopter had been shot down.
"It's conceivable. There were enemy in the area," he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because an investigation of the crash is under way. The Black Hawk burned when it crashed, making it more difficult to determine the cause.
Afghan fighters were seen moving toward the burning crash site but were driven off by another U.S. helicopter, the officer said. The bodies of those on board were recovered, he said.
The casualties included three U.S. special operations troops, four American crew members, three Afghan special operations soldiers and a civilian interpreter.
The war's most lethal single incident for U.S. troops came a year ago when insurgents shot down a Chinook in Wardak province, killing all 38 aboard, including 30 Americans, many of whom were Navy SEALs.
August has been a particularly deadly month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Before Thursday's crash, 19 Americans had died, including seven killed last week in attacks reportedly carried out by Afghan allies.
(King reported from Kabul, Cloud from Washington.)
©2012 Los Angeles Times |
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/16/162551/7-us-troops-among-11-killed-in.html#storylink=cpy |
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wartsttocs
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| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:22 am Post subject: |
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Afghan 'insider attacks' kill US soldiers
Shootings by Afghan soldier and police officer add to rising tide of attacks on Nato troops welcomed by Taliban leader
Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul
guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 August 2012 11.27 EDT
| Quote: | An Afghan soldier and police officer have turned their guns on foreign troops they work with, killing two and injuring several others, hours after the Taliban's leader boasted about his fighters' infiltration of government security forces and called for more attacks.
Two US special forces soldiers were killed in western Farah province by a newly recruited member of the Afghan Local Police, shortly after they handed him a gun during an inauguration ceremony.
"As soon as they gave the weapon to Ismail to begin training, suddenly he took the gun and opened fire toward the US soldiers," Farah provincial police chief Agha Noor Kemtoz told the Associated Press.
Hours later, in a volatile corner of southern Kandahar province, an Afghan soldier opened fire on a group of Nato troops, but was shot before he could kill anyone, said Nato spokesman Major Martin Crighton. The attacker later died of his wounds.
It was the second Friday in a row that there have been "insider attacks" on foreign soldiers. Last Friday, six US troops were killed, and there were other non-fatal attacks this week. Last Saturday, an Afghan policeman also shot dead nine of his fellow officers.
Afghan and Nato officials have been desperately searching for a way to staunch the growing tide of these shootings, which are badly damaging morale on the critical mission to train Afghan forces as foreigners head home.
There are intelligence agents undercover in many Afghan army units to seek out insurgent sympathisers, and Nato has created a system of "guardian angels" – soldiers who watch over fellow troops when they are with armed Afghan forces.
Even so, the attacks have been increasing, with 31 this year so far, compared with 21 in all of 2011. They have killed 39 people, while in all of last year 35 died.
The attacks were welcomed by Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar in his annual message marking Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. He also called on more security forces to turn against their allies.
"Mujahideen have cleverly infiltrated in the ranks of the enemy according to the plan given to them last year ... they easily carry out decisive and co-ordinated attacks, inflicting heavy losses," the message, published online in English translation, said. "We expect others to display the same boldness and spirit."
The leader of Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, attacked the Taliban statement as "insane language", and described the police and soldiers who turn on their allies as "the worst of humanity … Mullah Omar has issued an unmistakable message of death, hate and hopelessness for the Afghan people".
Nato commanders argue that the attackers account for the tiniest portion of security forces, now more than 300,000 strong, and say many are driven by personal grudges rather than ideology.
But infiltration might be easier to tackle systematically than the chance collision of personal problems and anger at western troops. And the shooters' motivation has no bearing on how the attacks affect sentiment both in Afghanistan and the countries that lose soldiers. |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/17/afghanistan-insider-attacks-us-soldiers |
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