Category: Afghanistan

It’s time, ladies and gentlemen, for one bigass tip of the hat to Fortitudine over at The Canadian Republic for cluing me on to this documentary in the first place in a post from yesterday. According to reports, the Brits have managed to blow the hell out of over 7000 of those Taliban turds since the 16 Air Assault Brigade first showed up in Helmand province in 2006. Not a bad damned record at all, if I do say so myself.

These clips come from a documentary by a fellow named Ross Kemp, who you can see more about here. The YouTube of the first episode has been broken up into 5 parts. Check them out below and enjoy watching our oldest allies at work (CAUTION: strong language)…

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Contrasts always make good food for thought, don’t you think? I’m rather fond of them, myself. They just seem to make things clearer for my knuckle-dragging conservative mind.

Take Afghanistan, for instance. Yes, I know there’s a cornucopia of contrasts just waiting to be observed there but for now, I’m going to stick to just a couple of things.

Let’s start off with the Phederal Fiberal Party of Canada®. You know the Fiberals, right? They’re the ones that got us into Bush/Harper’s Warâ„¢ in the first place (don’t mention that to the loopy leftosphere, though; they just hate it when somebody pops their balloon). They got us in, but didn’t really mean it, and now… Well, now they’re even eating each other over it:

Former defence minister John McCallum, in particular, is disarmingly frank, speaking openly about how Canada ended up being stuck with the unenviable job of trying to bring security to the increasingly dangerous province of Kandahar. “We dithered, and so all the safe places were taken and we were left with Kandahar.”

Is it just me, or did McCallum just take a potshot at his old boss? Ah, well, Lieberals turning on each other; what are the odds?

Then we’ve got the people that are actually putting their lives on the line in that foreign land. Soldiers like Sergeant Patrick Tower, Sergeant Michael Denine, Master Corporal Collin Fitzgerald and Private Jason Lamont from the CAF, and more recently, this lad who’s serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh:

Fusilier Damien Hields used his grenade machinegun to destroy seven Taliban positions before his ambushers realised he was their main threat. After peppering his vehicle with bullets, they hit the 24-year-old soldier. He had to be dragged off for treatment by his driver after he tried to continue fighting.

“Fusilier Hields showed extraordinary courage under intense fire,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Huw James, his commanding officer. “I was astonished at the state of his vehicle. There were so many holes in it, it was like a teabag. The Taliban did everything in their power to neutralise [him] and Fusilier Hields was having none of it. His actions allowed his patrol to come out of the ambush in which they were outnumbered by three or four to one and probably saved a lot of lives.” […]

Hields was one of 28 Military Crosses announced last week. There were also five Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses, the second highest award after the Victoria Cross. […]

They were on their way back to Kandahar on June 3, driving south in a valley, when the Taliban attacked. One of the Land Rovers hit a landmine and was flipped upside down by the blast. “There were Taliban dug in all around and they started hitting us with AK47s and mortars. We could not see where they were at first.”

Hields followed the trail of RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades coming towards him and started firing grenades one at a time, trying to home in. “Then I switched to automatic fire,” he said. A grenade machine gun has a box with 32 grenade rounds. “I emptied a box onto that position and you could see all the dust and smoke flying about where they hit.

“After that no fire came back from that position and I moved on to the next one. One or two rounds until I got onto the target, and switch to automatic and empty the box.”

Realising that Hields was the main threat to them, the remaining Taliban fighters homed in on him with their RPG7s, Dushka heavy machineguns and Kalash-nikov rifles. Hields was undaunted and continued firing.

“I got through six boxes in about 15 minutes and we were winning the fight,” he said. “They started it. We were going to finish it.”

One of the Taliban rounds finally hit home as he was bending down to reload. “I felt a sharp punch in the kidneys on my right side,” he said. “It knocked me into the bottom of the [Land-Rover]. I looked down and saw a hole in my body armour and a bit of blood.”

Hields was dragged out of the Taliban fire and back about 20 yards where Lance-Corporal Carley Williams, the female medic attached to the troops, had dashed through enemy fire to set up a first aid position.

“The lads were screaming at me to get into cover,” said Williams, 23, from Llanelli. They saw one round actually pass between my legs.” She was awarded the Joint Commanders’ Commendation for her bravery.

Hields said: “It turned out the bullet had smashed a rib and gone out of me again without touching any internal organs which was very lucky. It was just a flesh wound really.”

He and the other wounded were evacuated by helicopter. After treatment and recuperation, Hields was back taking part in operations in Afghanistan in July. “Obviously I’m extremely proud but I’ve got friends still recovering from injuries and it’s them I’m more worried about.”

Funny, the way some things can look when you put them next to each other, isn’t it?

And some people wonder how I can be a monarchist…

Well, this ought to shut up the naysayers (a few of ’em, anyway). HRH Prince Henry of Wales (aka Prince Harry) may not have made it to Iraq like he was hoping to, but he sure as hell managed to get his ass in the grass in Afghanistan! And damned good for him, too. An Aussie mag, a German paper and Drudge sprung the story a while ago, and Britain’s Defence Ministry confirmed it today.

From Drudge:

They’re calling him “Harry the Hero!”

British Royal Prince Harry has been fighting in Afghanistan since late December — and has been directly involved in gun battle, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The prince, a junior officer in the Blues and Royals, and third in line to the throne, has been a “magnificent soldier” and an “inspiration to all of Briton.”

Prince Harry is taking part in a new offensive against the Taliban.

The Ministry Of What You Should Think has more:

“His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary,” said the head of the British army, Gen. Richard Dannatt. “He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group.”

In an interview from Afghanistan that was made public Thursday, Harry told the BBC the deployment is “massively important” and a “turning point” in his life.

“It’s very nice to be sort of a normal person for once. I think it’s about as normal as I’m going to get,” he said, adding that he doesn’t miss anything from home, even alcohol. The prince often made headlines for his partying.

[…]

Harry has often complained he would quit the armed forces unless he is allowed to fight alongside his colleagues. When he graduated from military college in 2006, Harry told an interviewer he wasn’t going to put himself through military school “and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country.”

After his deployment to Iraq was canned, about a dozen defence officials quietly hatched a plan to send the prince to Afghanistan, CBC correspondent Adrienne Arsenault said.

A handful of journalists were invited to observe Harry on the battlefield under the agreement they would not report the information until the deployment had ended. The news blackout was intended to reduce the risk to the prince and his regiment.

CNN gets in on the act, too:

He was deployed 10 weeks ago and his fellow soldiers were sworn to secrecy.

The prince’s status is currently being reviewed, the Ministry of Defense said.

Harry is third in line to the British throne and serves with the Blues and Royals

His main role has been as a member of a group called Joint Tactical Air Control, or JTAC.

“As far as I’m concerned I’m out here as a normal JTAC on the ground and not as Prince Harry” he said.

In a recent interview with CNN correspondent Paula Newton, Prince Harry said, “At the end of the day I like to sort of be a normal person, and for once I think this is about as normal as I’m ever going to get.”

And in a pre-deployment interview with the British Press Association, he said: “If I’m wanted, if I’m needed, then I will serve my country as I signed up to do.”

The head of the British Army, Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, said Harry’s deployment had been kept secret after striking an agreement with the media.

British and international media — including CNN — had agreed not to report Harry’s deployment because of security concerns for him and his unit. The military confirmed the operation after a U.S. Web site broke the news blackout.

Dannatt said: “What the last two months have shown is that it is perfectly possible for Prince Harry to be employed just the same as other Army officers of his rank and experience.

All I can say is: Damned fine job, lad! God bless you, and come home in one piece.

…or else STFU, already!

There are some days when I almost feel sorry for ol’ Stephanie Dion.

Okay, you caught me; I can’t say that with a straight face. The fact of the matter is that I never feel sorry for citoyen Dion, mainly because most of the crap he finds himself in is usually of his own creation. And, as of today, it’s really official: Dion is up to his ankles in shit, but he’s in head-first…

The minority Conservative government has turned up the heat, announcing it will introduce a motion by Friday on extending the mission, with a vote on the matter in late March.

The move appears designed to ensure one of two outcomes this spring: parliamentary approval to extend the mission indefinitely, or a federal election on the issue.

But Liberal Leader Stephen Dion isn’t budging on his position that the combat component of the mission must end on schedule next February, with Canadian troops remaining in Afghanistan to help with reconstruction and training of Afghan security forces.

He emerged from a caucus meeting Wednesday saying he’s not afraid of an election and it’s up to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to compromise.

“I’m never afraid of anything,” Dion said when asked if he’s prepared to trigger an election over the issue.

Well, pardon us all to hell Steffy, if none of us are impressed. We’ve heard all this before, you see: Dion huffs and puffs and threatens to blow Steve’s house down and then, when the crunch time rolls around, the HypoGrits in the House vote with their arses. Every time.

Dion said the Liberals will offer amendments to the government motion, to bring it in line with the Grit position.

I wouldn’t bet the farm on that, Steffy. In case you hadn’t noticed, this is one government (minority or not) that takes a pretty damned dim view of having legislation watered down to uselessness, and Afghanistan is something that HMPM Harper is dead serious about. The Tory ducks are pretty much in a row over this issue. Grits have been all over the map.

But this isn’t the only kick in the nuts that Dion’s lined up for, is it? Nope, it’s not…

The Tories are stepping up their fight to pass their omnibus crime bill.

Bill C-2, the Tackling Violent Crime Act, which consists of five bills dealing with violent crimes, dangerous offenders, and the age of sexual consent, passed the House of Commons in late November, just before a Christmas break that ended in late January. Now, the Conservatives say they may make the proposed act a confidence matter if the Liberal-controlled Senate doesn’t pass the bill this month.

“When it comes to protecting children, when it comes to mandatory jail terms for people who commit crimes with firearms, when it comes to labeling people as dangerous offenders … we have legislation that will accomplish that and the Senate appears to be holding it up,” Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day told CTV Newsnet’s Mike Duffy Live.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told the Senate committee on legal affairs that it should pass the bill in February. If that doesn’t happen, he said he would tell Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the bill is a confidence measure and let him deal with it appropriately.

“We say to Liberal senators, and we say to (Liberal Leader) Stephane Dion, tell your Liberal colleagues to push this through,” said Day.

In other words: you’re not running the government anymore! So knock off this pissant screwing around, do the right thing, and get the damned legislation passed! If you don’t, we’ll damned well ram it up your sorry collective asses… and John Q. Canuck’ll help us do it.

So go ahead and get yourself a stiffy, Steffy. Give us an election. PLEASE. Either way, your bullshit stalling is running out of wiggle room.

Canada’s foremost chickenshit, Taliban Jack!â„¢ was at it again lately. For those of you who’ve been under a rock (or smoking some liberal-approved crap) for the last couple of days, Jumpin’ Jack Jerkweed was wringing his hands and running up the white flag on our mission in Afghanistan faster than you can say “who gives a rat’s ass about duty, morality or any of that other shit, when I can milk the coward vote in the next election:”

“It’s an endless mission. There’s no end in sight. We say it’s a dead end,” Layton told reporters Thursday.

“No one has laid out, anywhere, that it’s possible to ultimately win a war in this region.

“No one. And historical experience shows that it’s been impossible — whether it be Alexander the Great, the British in the 19th century, or the Russians in the 20th century.

“We’re saying let’s recognize these historical realities.”

Will somebody… PLEASE… kick this asshole in the balls for me?

What the hell am I thinking? Balls?? On this weaselshit little prick??? Dennis, lad, give your head a goddamned shake. Not to mention the fact that if you were to shove his brain up a gnat’s ass, it’d look like a BB in a boxcar.

First off, if you think that Alexander the Great got stopped cold in Afghanistan, you’re even dumber than ol’ Jack!ass Layton is. Alexander ploughed through the Afghans and marched clear through to India. He even founded Khandahar (named after himself) in the 4th century, BC.

Second, the Brits did put down an “insurgency” in Afghanistan. It was a little thing called the Second Afghan War, around about the late 1800s, and the Brits stomped a mudhole in ol’ Ayub Khan’s ass at the Battle of Kandahar in September of 1880.

And if you really think that the big, bad Mujahideen managed to whup the Soviet Union’s butt all by themselves, then you take the top pinhead prize. It was massive foreign involvement and support, most of it by the Yanks in the CIA, that broke the bear’s back.

In other words, when it comes to tackling a professional foreign army, the Afghans are long on reputation and damned short on substance. But don’t just take my word for it; look at what’s happening in country with our troops. All you ever hear about is, a roadside bomb, an IED, an attack on a [school/hospital/aid group/bunch of Korean missionaries/whatever], a bomb hidden in a… blahblahblah ad nauseum. Why do you suppose this is?

The answer is simple: the reason that you never hear about any “major engagements with the Taliban” anymore is that, every time they crawl out of their hidey-holes and try to face our soldiers in any kind of a real fight, they get their asses handed to them! So, they hide like vermin and plant bombs in the night and only dare to face those who can’t fight back. And if they can behead somebody for teaching little girls while they’re at it, well its so much better then, isn’t it? And these are the assholes that Jack!off Layton loses sleep over, wondering if they’re being treated nice enough when they get caught.

So just what the hell does all that junk above have to do with the title of this post? Well, it has to do with where I ended it up: all the kumbaya moonbat bullshit worriying over the fates of the scumbags that fail to find their way to Allah and end up captured by our very own Jolly Green Giants. The loopy left thinks we should all pinch a collective loaf at the very thought that some medieval, murder-minded maggot might get a little banged up at the hands of their nasty turnkeys. General Rick Hillier, on the other hand, has a view that’s more in line with mine:

The general said he heard about the reports when he was on vacation in the Dominican Republic with his wife. “I was on my third rum and Coke and I really didn’t give a damn,” he said with a chuckle.

There you go. Come on, now… What’s not to like? 😀

And these are the assholes that Jumpin’ Jack!off Layton wants us to negotiate with?? Thank God that ignoramus prick wasn’t alive in 1939… 🙄 Jerkweed Jack seems to be of the opinion that we can just have ourselves a nice little sit-down with a bunch of medeival skin-stogie-smokers (figure it out) and work out all our little differences over a couple o’ pints.

Bullshit.

These are the same gutless assholes that treated women worse than dogs and hide behind civilians like the gutless shits that they are. There’s a real simple reason why the Taliban and their ilk are relying so heavily on roadside bombs: every damned time that they try to come on out and actually face our boys, they get their asses handed to them.

So what do they do? They hide in their little caves, come out every now and then to plant bombs, and then run away. Oh, yeah… and they try to recruit kids to do the stuff that they don’t have the balls to do themselves…

KABUL — Fourteen-year-old Rafiqullah said the men at the Pakistani madrassa showed him and two classmates videos of suicide attackers. They taught the boys to drive a car and let them ride motorcycles. Then the militants gave Rafiqullah his mission: kill an Afghan governor.

The teenager walked eight hours over the porous border from Pakistan to the eastern Afghan city of Khost, where a man named Abdul Aziz tried to pump up his courage, Rafiqullah said. Aziz gave him an explosives-laden vest and the teen confessed his fears.

“I said I was afraid to carry out the suicide attack and Abdul Aziz pointed a gun at me and said, ‘I’ll kill you if you don’t,’ ” Rafiqullah said while in the custody of Afghan authorities over the weekend.

Oh, yeah; we can negotiate with these buggers, alright. Dickheads.

And it’s not like this is the first time that these gutless shitweasels have tried a stunt like this, is it? Anybody out there remember Juma Gul? Maybe you don’t, but I do. He was only SIX YEARS OLD when the Taliban tried to talk him into blowing himself to confetti around some ISAF soldiers. Luckily for him, Juma may have been born at night (I don’t know for sure) but he sure as hell wasn’t born last night…

FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan (AP) — The story of a 6-year-old Afghan boy who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into being a suicide bomber provoked tears and anger at a meeting of tribal leaders.

The account from Juma Gul, a dirt-caked child who collects scrap metal for money, left American soldiers dumbfounded that a youngster could be sent on such a mission. Afghan troops crowded around the boy to call him a hero.

Though the Taliban dismissed the story as propaganda, at a time when U.S. and NATO forces are under increasing criticism over civilian casualties, both Afghan tribal elders and U.S. military officers said they were convinced by his dramatic account.

Juma said that sometime last month Taliban fighters forced him to wear a vest they said would spray out flowers when he touched a button. He said they told him that when he saw American soldiers, “throw your body at them.”

[…]

“When they first put the vest on my body I didn’t know what to think, but then I felt the bomb,” Juma told The Associated Press as he ate lamb and rice after being introduced to the elders at this joint U.S.-Afghan base in Ghazni. “After I figured out it was a bomb, I went to the Afghan soldiers for help.”

Here’s an idea for ya, Jack!:
You want to negotiate with the Taliban? Fine. Send your wife to do it. If she comes back alive, we’ll all be real interested in what she has to say.