Utopia Talk / Politics / Militants try to storm US base in Afghan

roland rank	Tue Aug 19 07:53:28 2008 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? An Afghan governor says militants wearing vests packed with explosives tried to storm a main U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan. Arsallah Jamal, the governor of Khost province, says the militants failed to gain entry into Camp Salerno in Khost city, next to Pakistan's border. The attack started late on Monday evening. Jamal says militant suicide teams were pushed away, and that coalition troops were using airstrikes against the assailants. He says Afghan troops are reporting militants blowing themselves up before capture. A U.S. military spokesman confirms the attack and says there are no American casualties.
Master Bates rank	Tue Aug 19 09:16:02 2008 crazy fuks
jergul rank	Tue Aug 19 12:10:41 2008 Ten French soldiers have been killed in fighting with the Taleban east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, Afghan and French sources say. The deaths come amid heavy fighting near Kabul after Nato said one of its patrols was ambushed. The French soldiers were part of Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). Correspondents say it is the heaviest loss of troops France has suffered in Afghanistan since sending forces there. The French troops had been caught up in heavy fighting that started on Monday some 50 km (30 miles) east of Kabul. Despite increased security in Kabul, two rockets were fired on the city overnight, landing close to the Isaf headquarters. In the southern province of Kandahar a Nato patrol was struck by a roadside bomb. And in the province of Khost six suicide bombers have been killed in an attack on a Nato military base, Nato says. The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says there are now incidents like these every day across Afghanistan as the overall security situation appears to be deteriorating
Ironleg rank	Tue Aug 19 12:22:02 2008 Hate to be one of the people they ordered to capture them.. when you see a big group of people with bombs on their chests, the last thing you should do is run up to them and say "gotcha!"
murder rank	Tue Aug 19 13:55:04 2008 "Ten French soldiers have been killed in fighting with the Taleban east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, Afghan and French sources say." jergul: Any news on whether they died in the initial ambush?
Seb rank	Tue Aug 19 14:11:32 2008 Oh dear... We need to pull our fingers out here. Brown is being a terrible let down, apparently leaks are coming out that the does not want to send the combat troops freed up from Iraq to Helmand, and wants to reap some kind of peace dividend. Also, he has been entirely absent from the Georgia issue. I am reminded of the Churchil quote on people who see foreign policy from the wrong end of a municipal drain pipe. I hear the US intends to mini-surge Afghanistan and send in a marine brigade or two down south and assume command. This would be a good thing, because it looks like the UK can't be relied upon while our military is being sidelined politically and not given the resources or freedom to act down there. God I hope we get rid of him soon and get someone in who has a sense of vision and purpose.
murder rank	Tue Aug 19 16:01:52 2008 This is starting to resemble the earlier Iraqi "whack-a-mole" strategy. We need to figure out who all the bad actors are, what they want, and then buy them off. All except al-Qaeda and the Taliban of course. It may be time for a massive opium for material goods bartering program to starve the Taliban of income.
jergul rank	Tue Aug 19 16:10:45 2008 Murder I understood it to be an IED incident. Seb Marine Expeditionary Force is the jingo for USMC brigade equivalent. I withdrew my support for Afghanistan about 6 months ago. We wasted too much time.
Animal rank	Tue Aug 19 16:12:37 2008 "It may be time for a massive opium for material goods bartering program to starve the Taliban of income." To dump the prices without ruining the farmers, you mean?
jergul rank	Tue Aug 19 16:38:28 2008 Actually, simply normalizing production under license and quality assurance schemes and using it to out compete synthetic opiates on the global pharmaceutical market would be good enough. And should have been done long ago. But that would mean taking on the drug industry. If you thought the terrorists were bad, just wait for that war on drugs :-)
animal rank	Tue Aug 19 16:41:08 2008 well, we'd be buying (subsidizing) probably much more than we need to make a difference, so it wouldnt really be 'normalizing'.
jergul rank	Tue Aug 19 16:51:59 2008 The global opiate market is huge animal. Afghani production would be at the expense of synthetic producers, but there certainly is a market for the product if normalized.
animal rank	Tue Aug 19 16:57:30 2008 maybe pfetzer et al should start outleasing full chains of production to afgan, like telemarketers in India.
jergul rank	Tue Aug 19 17:13:24 2008 They are not in the natural opiate business and have put a lot of effort into keeping unfair legal advantages in place that grossly favour synthetic production.
crownroyal rank	Tue Aug 19 17:16:13 2008 Bring back Taliban.
animal rank	Tue Aug 19 17:16:46 2008 yeah well i still dont think a countrys prodiction being 90% concentrated to an opiate is a 'normal' or at least not a healthy state of affairs even if a transition period is acceptable. who knows about the future though, maybe one day it will be completely normal for a couple a countries to be devoted to farming opiates for the rest of the world.
Seb rank	Tue Aug 19 19:56:03 2008 animal: As opposed to bannanas, coffee or oil?
Seb rank	Tue Aug 19 19:58:19 2008 jerg: Yeah, it has been suggested before. It is beyond stupid that we are dedicated to crushing opiate production rather than simply handing Kabul licensed quota production to distribute, hand in hand with spraying for non-quota production. It would give kabul an large degree of leverage for a not-very-high political cost. There is a global shortage of synthetics apparently.
jergul rank	Tue Aug 19 20:25:51 2008 Yepp, we have explored it before. Still a sensible idea if we assume the pharmaceutical lobby could be neutralized.
eds rank	Tue Aug 19 20:35:12 2008 Good luck neutralizing the pharmaceutical lobby. A friend of mine works as an events manager in a national park/resort town. One of the major pharmaceuticals basically booked their facility every weekend for the next 2 years. They rotate low-level managers and grunt workers through there from all over the continent. These weekends are lavishly funded complete with over-priced motivational speakers, expensive tour packages, etc. These companies make more money than god.
jergul rank	Tue Aug 19 20:38:30 2008 "But that would mean taking on the drug industry. If you thought the terrorists were bad, just wait for that war on drugs :-)"
BushIsDaBetsPresld rank	Tue Aug 19 21:07:03 2008 rofl dum ragis
Garyd rank	Thu Aug 21 02:57:26 2008 Jergul for once I agree with you. It's also scarcely too late to win this battle. Afghanistan is every bit as important long term as Iraq.
Rugian rank	Thu Aug 21 11:39:25 2008 jergul Member Tue Aug 19 09:10:45 "I withdrew my support for Afghanistan about 6 months ago. We wasted too much time." Oh noes, jergul withdrew his support? Call the president! No one gives a shit what a hippie living in the North Pole thinks about our war against the ragis, jergul.
redblooded rank	Thu Aug 21 12:22:56 2008 jergul, I thought it wasn't an IED incident, because they wanted to show that the western troops have more to fear than just IEDs. The Western troop in Afghanistan are not free to move.
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