Having spent months touting its upcoming Kandahar “offensive” to the world as the centerpiece of their 2010 plans for the ongoing Afghan War, NATO has decided that “offensive” doesn’t sound very good, and has reported decided to rebrand the invasion as a “process” or conversely a “series of efforts.”
Most analysts have taken this as an indication that the US-led offensive is going to be much more gradual than originally suggested, and possibly will last a lot longer as well. For the residents of Kandahar however, neither sounds particularly appealing.
“More foreign troops means more attacks and more dead civilians,” noted Khan Mohammed, a car dealer in Kandahar, adding that NATO should “open their eyes and realize they can’t beat the Taliban through military means.”
Which may be part of why officials are now talking about it as a combination of military and non-military actions. The reality however is that as with the Marjah fiasco, the military offensive will dictate the pace and if the non-military action doesn’t keep up or doesn’t materialize at all, as seems to regularly be the case, the offensive will produce a lot of casualties, a lot of angry civilians, and little meaningful progress.
In Vietnam, American officials and commanders behaved as if the North Vietnamese, and even the peasants in the South, read American newspapers and magazines, and watched American television, and were both sensitive and susceptible to the nuanced doublespeak of US advertising and public relations.
What's "winning the hearts and minds of the people" in Vietnamese?
You can be sure the vast majority of Americans prosecuting the war had not the slightest idea.
In fact, for most Vietnamese in the countryside it was, "free fire zone."
Notice–Rawstory and Antiwar sites are sporting ABC commericials?
I also didn't like Antiwar's week of lob-sided of many articles on the NY car fizzled bomber. Not one depicted that it could be a CIA set-up.
Has ABC anything to do with it and what is ABC's real agendia here?
Ever keep track of a fund raising drive on Antiwar.com where it looks like the site is doomed, but at the last minute a huge contribution, or series of contributions, allows the site to reach it's $70,000 quarterly goal? Ever wonder where this money suddenly comes from?
Ever keep track of a fund raising drive on Antiwar.com where it looks like the site is doomed, but at the last minute a huge contribution, or series of contributions, allows the site to reach it's $70,000 quarterly goal? Ever wonder where this money suddenly comes from?
Ever keep track of a fund raising drive on Antiwar.com where it looks like the site is doomed, but at the last minute a huge contribution, or series of contributions, allows the site to reach it's $70,000 quarterly goal? Ever wonder where this money suddenly comes from?
Five US combat deaths have been reported at the DOD website under press releases in the last two days including the following:
Lance Cpl. Richard Penny 21, of Fayatteville, Ark. died May 6 while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Spc. Wade A. Slack 21, of Waterville, Maine, died May 6 at Jaghatu, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using indirect fire.
Spc. Eric M. Fiinniginam, 26 of Colonia, Federated states of Micronesia, died May 1 at Forward Operating Base Blessing, Afghanistan of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using indirect fire.
1st Lt. Brandon A. Barrett 27, of Marion Ind., died May 5 while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Master Sgt. Mark W. Coleman, 40, of Centervile, Wash., died May 2 at Khakrez, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.