Maj. Brent Taylor, the 39-year-old mayor of North Ogden, Utah, was killed on Saturday in an insider attack in Afghanistan. Taylor was a member of the Utah Army National Guard, and was training Afghan commandos.
There are conflicting reports on the incident, in which one of the trainees opened fire, killing Taylor and wounding another soldier. Initial reports said the gunman was killed as well, though subsequent reports have not confirmed that this was the case.
Taylor was a mayor since 2013, and has done multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. This most recent tour was scheduled to end in January. His death is the latest in a growing string of insider attacks in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has been trying to respond to the rise in insider attacks by greatly restricting contact between Afghan forces and US troops. This has been a struggle, however, as much of the US mission right now is training, and it’s difficult to train the Afghan military without having contact with them.
The last two US military deaths in Afghanistan have been NATIONAL GUARD. North Carolina and Utah. Why the hell is it that, given the world’s finest military™, almost half a million strong, regular troops, I once was one, Washington sends state-owned WEEKEND WARRIORS to die in this HOPELESS CAUSE.
Correct. Misguided patriotism is cynically used to continue the wars.
Congress can end it by cutting off the funding. The POTUS can end it as commander in chief. They won’t.
The majority of the American people have wanted to end it for a decade. We don’t matter. Both “sides” lay claim to representing the people. They lie. They lied to get us into war. They lie to continue wars. They lie when they tell us they are going to end the wars. They lie about the reasons for the wars.
Yes.
Regarding what a “majority of the American people have wanted” a popular headline in the MSM currently–
Is Democracy in Danger?
And I ask: What democracy?
Again correct. With a “democracy” like this who needs despotism and authoritarism?
Big deal, they’ve been lying for couple hundred years. Nothing new.
Oct 16, 20818
Top 10 Fears of 2018
Chapman University Survey of American Fears
Below is a list of the 10 fears for which the highest percentage of Americans reported being “Afraid,” or “Very Afraid.” . . here
1. Corrupt government officials 73.6
It’s a question of degree and the amount of resources grabbed by the political class. In the 1800’s, government took about 7% of the GDP (estimated). Now, it’s near 50%. Not including the rip off of the government backed banking cartel.
And how many foreign wars and interventions were there? So, yes….a big deal. A very big deal.
Hey, it isn’t like back in 2003, when the Guardsmen didn’t expect to find themselves in the middle of a shooting war. This guy did multiple tours, so I guess he enjoyed butchering civilians for the empire. I have zero sympathy for him. For the record, I was a Guardsman one as well back before all these war crimes started, and I would have refused to participate.
This attack is the latest in a series of “green-on-blue” attacks in which members of the Afghan forces have killed US or coalition advisers this year and follows the death of a Czech soldier in the western province of Herat last month. The total number of Coalition deaths from green-on-blue attacks for the period Jan. 1, 2008 to June 2017 is 152. In July this year a US soldier was killed and two others wounded in an “apparent insider attack” in southern Afghanistan. And now the killing of a prominent “advisor.”
Less than 50 percent of so-called “green on blue” attacks have been perpetrated by Taliban infiltrators into the Afghan army, the former US and NATO Commander General John Allen has said. The locals, as in Iraq and Vietnam before that, just don’t want US troops in their country. Who can blame them.
But who cares about the troops, except as motivators to continue the craziness. The feeling is that their sacrifices somehow sanctify the effort. Memories of the Aztec sacrifices, who are considered to be non-civilized.
The troops obviously don’t care about themselves or the innocent civilians they kill, or they’d stop doing it and the wars would be over. Vietnam ended in large measure because the troops started killing their own officers–unless that starts happening now, the wars will last forever.
Karma is a bitch.
The mayor should have stayed in Utah instead of wanting to kill Afghans in their own country.
Yeah, who votes for a guy who spends half his time on the other side of the world killing civilians?
Low-information dimwits vote for a guy who spends half his time on the other side of the world killing civilians. I thought Utah voters were smarter than that, but I was badly mistaken. Instead, they’re dumber than a box of rocks.
“The Pentagon has been trying to respond to the rise in insider attacks
by greatly restricting contact between Afghan forces and US troops.”
…ignoring the most obvious solution: bring the US troops back to the US…
And no doubt increasing Afghani resentment against the imperial invaders.
You’re 100% right, bub, the Pentagon’s been ignoring the most obvious solution, that is, withdrawing from Afghanistan altogether and bringing the troops home. These troops belong at the US-Mexican border, preventing caravans of mostly violent criminal illegal aliens from entering.
As far as the Pentagon’s attempt at responding to the rise in insider attacks by greatly restricting contact between Afghan and US forces, that’s been a failure. How on Earth can US forces train their Afghan counterparts effectively if they’re restricted from contact with each other? That’s totally insane.
I don’t see much MSM coverage of how poorly the first parliamentary election in 8 years went. Less than 15% of the people voted, which pretty much de-legitimizes the results.
The Army has a “Guardian Angel” system for protecting soldiers from threats by the people they are there to “advise.” excerpts–
Apparently the Guardian Angel system needs some improvement.