"The Insurgents Are Losing"
Reading through the comments on various news sides not one persons seems to believe this story:
A group of “less than 10” insurgents, including the fighter who allegedly shot the Chinook helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, were tracked down at a compound in eastern Afghanistan early Monday and killed in airstrikes by F-16 fighter planes, according to Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, and other military officials.
One wonders why the military felt the need to come out with this obvious fairytale.
It hurts its own credibility with such a story.
The Taliban deny it and claim that the fighters had immediately left Wardak province after trapping the helicopter. That story actually makes a lot of sense.
But there is even more unbelievable U.S. propaganda further down in the first linked piece:
“All across Afghanistan, the insurgents are losing. They’re losing territory, they’re losing leadership, they’re losing weapons and supplies, they’re losing public support,” [General Allen] said. “More and more, the insurgents are losing resolve and the will to fight.”
We know that the numbers of districts with Taliban activity is up, the number of IEDs is at a record high, the number of assassination by the Taliban is up, the numbers of U.S. an Afghan security forces' casualties is the highest ever and the number of civilian casualties is sharply up. But all that does not count. The insurgents are losing - the General says so, so they must be.
But who does he think will actually believe him?
Posted by b on August 11, 2011 at 17:47 UTC | Permalink
I thought it was pretty obviously an attempt to present a victory to the US public. Some kind of revenge - America hit back.
I think it shows how strongly they felt the loss of that Chinook.
Posted by: alexno | Aug 11 2011 19:20 utc | 2
A more believable story is that the General sent aircraft out to kill someone, anyone, who they might decide looks unfriendly, and call it even for the attack on the helicopter. Then they fluff things up afterward by saying that the insurgents are losing.
Triple AAA rating restored in Afghanistan
what a joke!
Posted by: Cloned_Poster | Aug 11 2011 21:14 utc | 4
NYT hardcopy, page A6 begins its report sounding like the same story as WaPo. But then in pp5:
Although a local Taliban commander was identified among the dead, the senior insurgent leader who was the central target of the weekend raid has not been captured or killed. Military officials have declined to disclose the leader's name while he remains in hiding.
NYT also reports local Afghanis reporting that Taliban hid behind trees until Chinook was landing. Seems to support b's presumption that there was a trap.
Posted by: smoke | Aug 11 2011 23:28 utc | 5
America's longest war. But, people, don't despair! There's a light at the end of the tunnel! Else, why would anyone continue to pump up excessively bloated, ineffective "defense" budgets?
Posted by: JohnH | Aug 11 2011 23:38 utc | 6
The US "Defense" Department has never passed an audit. And this year Congress overwhelming voted against a bill that would have made increases in military spending subject to DOD passing one.
And, just to be sure that corruption will become pervasive, "The State Department sent a message to Hamas rulers in Gaza on Thursday that it would withdraw some $100 million it is spending in Gaza on health care, agriculture and water infrastructure if they did not back off a demand to audit the books of American-financed charities operating there."
And people wonder why I call her Hillary the Horrible?
Posted by: JohnH | Aug 12 2011 0:20 utc | 7
b,
It's propaganda. Unfortunately, when the truth is lost, trust disappears too.
America is diminished by the Forever Wars and the Financial Difficulties. Truth and trust are gone.
Posted by: VietnamVet | Aug 12 2011 16:27 utc | 8
they are losing public support too:
The raids occur "every night. We are very much miserable," said Roshanak Wardak, a doctor and a former member of the national Parliament. "They are coming to our houses at night."
Posted by: Susan | Aug 12 2011 21:15 utc | 9
The comments to this entry are closed.
But who does he think will actually believe him?
The taxpayers picking up the tab for this Quixotic adventure in incompetence, self-deception and self-destruction.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 11 2011 18:50 utc | 1