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Title: Ten US soldiers killed in Afghanistan
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URL Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne ... Afghanistan/article6860616.ece
Published: Oct 4, 2009
Author: UK Times
Post Date: 2009-10-04 10:10:18 by Jethro Tull
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Keywords: None
Views: 233
Comments: 14
Ten American troops were killed at the weekend in two surprise attacks that caused alarm in Nato’s US-led coalition. In one, hundreds of insurgents attacked a pair of isolated outposts in eastern Afghanistan, killing eight US soldiers and several Afghan policemen in the deadliest battle in 15 months. Scores more Afghan policemen were reportedly captured by the Taleban. In the other an Afghan policeman opened fire on the American soldiers with whom he was working in central Wardak province, killing two and injuring three. It was unclear whether the policeman was working for the Taleban or simply ran amok but the attack fuelled the distrust that many Nato soldiers already feel for the Afghan security forces that they are supposed to be working with and training as part of the coalition’s eventual exit strategy. The attacks also came at a crucial juncture in the eight-year-old war, with President Obama soon to decide whether to accept a request by General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of the 100,000-strong US and Nato force in Afghanistan, for 40,000 extra troops, or to scale back the counter-insurgency operation and focus narrowly on crushing al-Qaeda. Domestic opposition to the first option is increasing as the death toll rises steadily. Around 400 coalition troops have now been killed in Afghanistan this year, well over half of them American. The two outposts on a hill in the remote and mountainous province of Nuristan, a Taleban and al-Qaeda stronghold on the lawless Pakistan border, were attacked before dawn on Saturday by around 300 insurgents from a mosque and a nearby village. They stormed the Afghan police post at the foot of the hill then swept on to the Nato post further up. The attack was repelled with the help of US airpower but the ferocious battle lasted many hours. Aside from the American and Afghan dead, Mohammad Farooq, Nuristan's deputy police chief, said that the fate of the rest of the 90-strong police force in Kamdesh district was unknown. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taleban spokesman, said that the insurgents included several suicide bombers and that they had captured 35 policemen whose fate would be decided by the movement’s provincial council. Jamaludin Badar, the governor of Nuristan province, said that Taleban fighters had fled to Nuristan after Pakistani troops drove extremists from the Swat Valley earlier this year. He said that he had sought more security forces for Kamdesh district, adding: “When there are few security forces this is what happens.” Nato said that its forces had inflicted heavy casualties on the insurgents but gave no numbers. “This was a complex attack in a difficult area,” said Colonel Randy George, commander of the US force in the region. “Both the US and Afghan soldiers fought bravely together. I am extremely proud of their professionalism.” The death toll was the highest the Taleban had inflicted on US troops since a battle in July last year when 200 of its fighters attacked another remote outpost in nearby Kunar province and killed nine Americans. The US has suffered some of its worst casualties in eastern Afghanistan, where its soldiers have sought to control the remote passes through which Taleban fighters infiltrate from Pakistan, but it had planned shortly to withdraw from the area as part of General McChrystal’s strategy to focus on protecting population centres. Today senior Nato officers across Afghanistan were reassessing the security of hundreds of combat outposts. “Everyone is aware of what happened in Nuristan and checking their outposts are sufficiently well protected and manned,” said Major Jason Henneke, executive officer of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Battalion in Wardak province. Major Henneke’s battalion itself lost two soldiers late on Friday when the Afghan policeman attacked his American colleagues near the end of a joint operation to clear the Taleban from villages in and around the Nerkh valley. The policeman threw a grenade, opened fire with his AK47, then fled and escaped. US and Afghan authorities are still seeking to determine whether he had simply lost his head, or was a Taleb who had infiltrated the Afghan police. Either way, the attack unnerved US and other coalition soldiers who must work every day alongside Afghan soldiers and policemen. “You don’t trust anybody, especially after an incident like this. You fear they may in some way be connected to the Taleban,” said Specialist Raquime Mercer, 20, who lost one of his closest friends in the attack. “Young soldiers will think twice before doing joint patrols,” said Lieutenant Colonel Kimo Gallahue, commander of the 2-87.
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#1. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, Rudyard Kipling
Ted Kennedy Is Now Eligible To Vote In Chicago.
Wow. Nice touch and unfortunately appropriate.
Here, our Global Citizen dances on the graves of the dead as the audience cheers.
That made me want to look up the rest of it. Any idea what he means by "rag- box," "'arf-made recruity, "go on the shout,"? THE YOUNG BRITISH SOLDIER When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day, First mind you steer clear o' the grog-sellers' huts, When the cholera comes -- as it will past a doubt -- But the worst o' your foes is the sun over'ead: If you're cast for fatigue by a sergeant unkind, Now, if you must marry, take care she is old -- If the wife should go wrong with a comrade, be loath When first under fire an' you're wishful to duck, When 'arf of your bullets fly wide in the ditch, When shakin' their bustles like ladies so fine, If your officer's dead and the sergeants look white, When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, Rudyard Kipling
I found out what "arf" means: "Contraction meaning half, frequently used in literature to reflect a heavy British accent".... en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%27arf
Yes, indeed. Ten more goyims bite the big one for their beloved Israel. Keep an eye out for the dancing Israelis.
Like most British slang it probably has to do with being a has-been Euro-peon homo.
Ted Kennedy Is Now Eligible To Vote In Chicago.
There u go!
I don't know why, but I feel a bit safer today...
An undated photo provided by Dominique Reynolds on Monday, Oct. 5, 2009, shows her husband, Sgt. Titus Reynolds, 23, of Columbus, Ohio. Sgt. Reynolds and two other soldiers were killed Sept. 24, 2009 during an attack on their vehicle in Omar Zai, Afghanistan. A memorial will be conducted at Fort Lewis on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009, at North Fort Chapel. (AP Photo/provided by Dominique Reynolds) Source: AP - Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Nice looking young man. By the look of him, do you think that he'd strap a bomb to his belly and blow his guts and yours all over Kingdom Come? I don't think so. That's what we're up against.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091..._as/us_afghan_us_deaths_1 US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 779 By The Associated Press The Associated Press – Mon Oct 5, 8:56 pm ET As of Monday, Oct. 5, 2009, at least 779 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Monday at 10 a.m. EDT. Of those, the military reports 600 were killed by hostile action. Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 72 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, three were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death. ___ The latest deaths reported by the military: • A soldier died Monday of wounds suffered in an insurgent attack Sunday in southern Afghanistan. ___ The latest identifications reported by the military: • Army Sgt. Thomas D. Rabjohn, 39, Litchfield Park, Ariz.; died Saturday in Wardak province, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated during an attempt to disarm it; assigned to the 363rd Explosive Ordnance Detachment, Coolidge, Ariz. • Two Army soldiers died Friday in Murcheh, Afghanistan, when they were attacked by a suicide bomber. Both were assigned to the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, Greensboro, N.C. Killed were Capt. Benjamin A. Sklaver, 32, Medford, Mass.; and Pfc. Alan H. Newton Jr., 26, Asheboro, N.C. ___
Ten American troops were killed
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier ~of~ the Queen!
#2. To: Flintlock (#1)
Rudyard Kipling
#3. To: Flintlock (#1)
#4. To: Flintlock (#1)
'E acts like a babe an' 'e drinks like a beast,
An' 'e wonders because 'e is frequent deceased
Ere 'e's fit for to serve as a soldier.
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
So-oldier ~OF~ the Queen!
You shut up your rag-box an' 'ark to my lay,
An' I'll sing you a soldier as far as I may:
A soldier what's fit for a soldier.
Fit, fit, fit for a soldier . . .
For they sell you Fixed Bay'nets that rots out your guts --
Ay, drink that 'ud eat the live steel from your butts --
An' it's bad for the young British soldier.
Bad, bad, bad for the soldier . . .
Keep out of the wet and don't go on the shout,
For the sickness gets in as the liquor dies out,
An' it crumples the young British soldier.
Crum-, crum-, crumples the soldier . . .
You ~must~ wear your 'elmet for all that is said:
If 'e finds you uncovered 'e'll knock you down dead,
An' you'll die like a fool of a soldier.
Fool, fool, fool of a soldier . . .
Don't grouse like a woman nor crack on nor blind;
Be handy and civil, and then you will find
That it's beer for the young British soldier.
Beer, beer, beer for the soldier . . .
A troop-sergeant's widow's the nicest I'm told,
For beauty won't help if your rations is cold,
Nor love ain't enough for a soldier.
'Nough, 'nough, 'nough for a soldier . . .
To shoot when you catch 'em -- you'll swing, on my oath! --
Make 'im take 'er and keep 'er: that's Hell for them both,
An' you're shut o' the curse of a soldier.
Curse, curse, curse of a soldier . . .
Don't look nor take 'eed at the man that is struck,
Be thankful you're livin', and trust to your luck
And march to your front like a soldier.
Front, front, front like a soldier . . .
Don't call your Martini a cross-eyed old bitch;
She's human as you are -- you treat her as sich,
An' she'll fight for the young British soldier.
Fight, fight, fight for the soldier . . .
The guns o' the enemy wheel into line,
Shoot low at the limbers an' don't mind the shine,
For noise never startles the soldier.
Start-, start-, startles the soldier . . .
Remember it's ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier . . .
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
Go, go, go like a soldier,
So-oldier ~of~ the Queen!
#5. To: All (#4)
#6. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
#7. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#8. To: Big Meanie (#4)
Any idea what he means by "rag- box," "'arf-made recruity, "go on the shout,"?
#9. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
#10. To: TwentyTwelve (#9)
#11. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams 
#12. To: Esso (#7)
Yes, indeed. Ten more goyims bite the big one for their beloved Israel. Keep an eye out for the dancing Israelis.
#13. To: TwentyTwelve (#12)
#14. To: randge (#13)
That's what we're up against.
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