So how's the war in Afghanistan doing??

I wouldn't know, no news coverage..

Published on September 27, 2007 By ShadowWar In War on Terror

Well on the news last night I heard that the US Military might have had Bin Idiot in their sights and missed him. He was supposedly spotted in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan and Pakistan and the US Military sent in Special Forces to try and find him and capture or kill him, they did not find him of course, or you would have seen it plastered all over the news.

What you did not hear on the nightly news was that the Afghanistan Army advised and supported by coalition forces, killed more than 200 Taliban Fighters in one battle near Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Members of the 205th Afghan National Army Corps were the unit involved. The military unit was patrolling near Regay village to clear the area of extremist Taliban fighters. Several dozen terrorist attacked the convoy from an trench system and several compounds. Taliban fighters reinforced their fighting positions from the village of Musa Qalah throughout the daylong battle. Coalition aircraft and artillery attacked the Taliban positions. The initial estimate assessed that more than 100 terrorist were killed.

In another battle that day (the 25th of Sept.) near the village of Kakrak a different unit of the Afghan Army located and attacked another large group of Taliban terrorist, fighting a six hour long battle that more than 65 terrorist dead.

Now had more than 260 people in Iraq been blown up by IED's, or 260+ people been killed in a train wreck, or any other place a loss of life of 260+ people been reported it would have made world news. But let it be terrorist being killed in Afghanistan, and nothing. Isn't it good news that the Afghan Army (with help) is able to do this, and the fact that this large number of terrorist were killed in one day should in itself be reported, no matter where it happened. But since most people think that Afghanistan is a forgotten war and that we (coalition) forces are no longer fighting there, maybe this would be a good reminder.

I just find it amazing how the media is able to select just the right stories to make the war appear one way and fail to report the positive. But hey the American people, and for the better part, the rest of the world have been brainwashed into thinking all is doom and gloom and there is no way to win any war in Afghanistan or Iraq. What you will hear is that 50 people were killed throughout Iraq. Hmmm 260+ terrorist killed or 50 people killed by terrorist. Which story should I run in my paper or on my TV show? Which one is an advantage to the terrorist if I post it? Which one will increase morale of the troops and the people back home? Or even better yet, maybe I should post or show both so that both the good and bad are shown? Which would be more "journalistic"??? Which is "fair and balanced"??

Comments

OckhamsRazor

on Sep 27, 2007

Maybe it's this way on purpose. This war isn't supposed to ever end - that would be bad for business. And since US war technology is so far superior to any other war tech that walks the earth, the media has to keep representing the negative side of things so that business can continue unhindered.

Conspiracy theory? Maybe it is, but I can't find another explanation. Maybe someone else can school me (and while schooling, please remember, I am in the military)

ShadowWar

on Sep 27, 2007

Well I have to agree with you, on some of your point. I also believe its on purpose, but my reason is much less maligned than yours. I think it’s this way because of the vast majority of the press being anti-Bush and anti-war. Therefore they are, (and doing a good job of it) trying to convince the public that the President is a criminal, terrible person, the war is going badly and there is NO progress being made, and no battles being won by the coalition forces. So they pick only those stories that would show the war, no matter where it is being fought, in a negative, losing, failure type of light.

If the press were to simply publish both the good and the bad, then they would actually be reporting. Then the American (and for that matter the rest of the world) people would be better informed and able to make a more informed decision on what they feel about the war and all those involved in it.

ShadowWar

on Sep 27, 2007

Not many people know we have killed an estimated 19,000 terrorist since 2003. But you know every day how many of our fine military people have died, to the minute. If you are going to publish friendly losses, also publish the losses of the enemy. It's called reporting.

Paladin77

on Sep 27, 2007

Conspiracy theory? Maybe it is, but I can't find another explanation. Maybe someone else can school me (and while schooling, please remember, I am in the military)

Joke, maybe it is. Since you are in are were part of the military you may think I am talking down to you but that is not the case I am only bringing everyone else up to speed so bare with me while I give you the long answer.

The US military is a force on force fighting group. Meaning it is designed to fight armies of other nations defeating them handily. As far back as the revolutionary war we have proof that a force on force military is not designed or equipped to fight a gorilla war. Of the million plus members of the US armed forces only 20% are force on force, or war fighters. The rest are support staff. Of that 20% the US army has one unit trained for counter insurgency which numbers in the thousands, the Air Force has none, the Navy has a few dozen under the name SeAL’s Sea Air Land commandos. Formerly known as UDT, and the Marine Corps has a few hundred under the name of FAST the Fleet Anti-terror Security Team. We are talking about fewer than two thousand people trained and equipped to fight counter insurgency out of over a million people in uniform.
The terrorist are using gorilla warfare tactics which is hit and run, expose as few of your people to get a maximum number of enemy dead or injured then run and hide till you can attack again. They are not very good at this but good enough to tie us up in knots trying to find them. The only way to beat this is to find them before they can strike and run away hit them hard fast and continuously until they are all dead then start on the next cell and repeat the process.
This works because under normal situations terrorist have limited recourses and run out of fighters quickly (after about five years). In this case there are nation states that are supporting them and to show how effective we have been the enemy has had to sent in their own uniformed troops in to support the dwindling number of terrorist. Three Iranian General Officers have been captured alive in Iraq; Iranian troops have been captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even with massive help from three nations they are losing because we understand how to fight that type of war and even though we can’t use all the tools we have that work because of the squishy politicians we are still winning.

ShadowWar

on Sep 27, 2007

Very good post Paladin77, very well written. Thanks.

Paladin77

on Sep 27, 2007

Very good post Paladin77, very well written. Thanks.

Thank You! That is great to hear from someone like you.

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