Travis,
Riiiiight, and they just started growing poppies in Afghanistan, let me guess......around Jan, 2009 I suppose? Sure pal. On Jul 12, 6:51 pm, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > From: *Travis* > Date: Sun, Jul 12, 2009 > Subject: MARINES FORBIDDEN TO SHOOT BACK AT TALEBAN > > | > > Friday, July 10, 2009 > > *MARINES FORBIDDEN TO SHOOT BACK AT > TALEBAN*<http://alanpetersnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2009/07/dont-shoot-back-dont...> > > http://alanpetersnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2009/07/dont-shoot-back-dont... > > Dont shoot back! > > Dont pick the poppies! > > And dont bother the women and men in burqas! > > These are the new rules of engagement for leathernecks in Afghanistan. > > Sound incredible? > > Theyre true. > > Welcome to the modern Marine Corps under Commander-in-Chief Barack Hussein > Obama > > On July 1, the U.S. military initiated Operation Khanjar or Strike of the > Sword, an invasion of the Helmand Province by 4,000 Marines and 650 Afghan > soldiers. > > Strike of the Sword represents the first military operation to be ordered by > President Obama. > > The purpose of the campaign is to flush out Taliban operatives from southern > Afghanistan in order to safeguard the re-election of Afghan President Hamid > Karzai on August 20. > > The military initiative is being conducted by the insistence of Kharzai, who > fears that a strong Taliban presence will produce unfavorable results for > him on election-day. > > To accomplish this objective, President Obama remains determined to deploy > 68,000 additional U.S. troops to southern Afghanistan within the next six > weeks. > > But the Marines, thanks to Mr. Obama, are conducting this mission with their > hands tied. > > The first order from Americas new commander is that the Marines must not > return enemy fire for fear of killing an Afghan non-combatant. > > ABC Correspondent Mike Boettcher, who is embedded with Golf Company, reports > that the young Marines, when ambushed by Taliban forces with automatic > weapons, were ordered to shoulder their rifles. Their command, Boettcher > writes, warned them that one civilian casualty could negate the No. 1 > objective of this operation - winning the trust and respect of the farmers > of the Helmand River Valley. > > How are the Marines expected to win the trust and respect of the farmers? > > By not disturbing the opium poppy fields which remain in full bloom. > > The Marines of Bravos Company 1st Platoon sleep beside groves of poppies > Troops of the 2nd Platoon walk through the fields on strict orders not to > swat the heavy opium bulbs. The Afghan farmers and laborers, who are engaged > in scraping the resin from the bulbs, smile and wave at the passing > soldiers. > > The Helmand province is the worlds largest cultivator of opium poppies the > crop used to make heroin. > > Afghanistan grew 93 percent of the worlds poppy crop last year, with Helmand > alone responsible for more than half of the opium production in the country, > according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. > > Heroin, as it turns out, represents the only staple of the Afghan economy. > The country manufactures no domestic products for exportation and the rocky > terrain yields no cash crops - except, of course, the poppies. > > The poppies fuel the great jihad against the United States and the Western > world. More than 3,500 tons of raw opium is gleaned from the poppy crops > every year, producing annual revenues for the Taliban and al Qaeda that > range from $5 billion to $16 billion. > > Destroying the fields could very well put an end to terrorist activities in > Afghanistan and Pakistan. > > But the Obama Administration remains intent upon protecting the poppies so > that the Afghan farmers and local drug lords can reap the benefits of what > purports to be a bumper crop. > > Many Marines in the field are scratching their heads over the situation. > > Jason Striuszko a journalist embedded with the U.S. Marines in Garmser, > reports that many of the leathernecks are scratching their heads at the > apparent contradictions calling in airstrikes and artillery on the elusive > Taliban while assuring farmers and drug lords that they will protect the > poppies. > > Of course, Striuszko says, those fields will be harvested and some money > likely used to help fuel the Taliban, and the Marines are thinking, > essentially, huh? > > Its kind of weird. Were coming over here to fight the Taliban. We see this. > We know its bad. But at the same time we know its the only way locals can > make money, said 1st Lt. Adam Lynch, 27, of Barnstable, Mass. > > Richard Holbrooke, the Obama Administrations top envoy in Afghanistan, says > that poppy eradication for years a cornerstone of U.S. and U.N. anti-drug > efforts in the country has only resulted in driving Afghan farmers into the > hands of the Taliban. > > The new approach, Holbrooke maintains, will try to wean the farmers of the > lucrative cash crop by giving them help to grow other produce, like wheat, > corn and pomegranates. > > Fat chance. > > Most of the 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan operate in the east, where the > poppy problem is not as great. But the 2,400-strong 24th Marines, have taken > the field in this southern growing region during harvest season. > > An expert on Afghanistans drug trade, Barnett Rubin, complained that the > Marines are being put in such a situation by a one-dimensional military > policy that fails to integrate political and economic considerations into > long-range planning. > > All we hear is, not enough troops, send more troops, said Rubin, a professor > at New York University. Then you send in troops with no capacity for > assistance, no capacity for development, no capacity for aid, no capacity > for governance. > > Staff Sgt. Jeremy Stover, whose platoon is sleeping beside a poppy crop > planted in the interior courtyard of a mud-walled compound, said the Marines > mission is to get rid of the bad guys, and the locals arent the bad guys. > > Poppy fields in Afghanistan are the cornfields of Ohio, said Stover, 28, of > Marion, Ohio. When we got here they were asking us if its OK to harvest > poppy and we said, Yeah, just dont use an AK-47. > > And the third order from Commander Obama, who has never spent a day in > uniform (not even as a Boy Scout), is that no enlisted man must ever > question or detain, let alone stop and search, any Afghani in a burqa. > > Even glancing at a Muslim woman, the young Marines are told, is a grievous > offense in the Islamic world. > > This order has resulted in Taliban militants escaping from the clutches of > the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade on July 8. > > Members of the Brigade had managed to trap the Taliban fighters in a mud > compound within the village of Khan Neshin, about 60 miles north of the > Pakistani border. > > With the help of a translator and a village elder, the Marines, under orders > from their commanders, persuaded the trapped insurgents to free the women > and children in their custody. > > Within minutes, according Afghan Army Commander Mahaiddin Ghorr, thirty to > forty figures in full burqas emerged from the mud - some holding the hands > of children - and sauntered off into the hills. > > When the Marines entered the compound an hour or so later, the place was > empty. > > The latest military operation has resulted in the relocation of Taliban > fighters to the western and northern provinces. > > This has prompted complaints from German and Italian commanders who now must > deal with hundreds of enemy combatants. > > Posted by Alan Peters at 10:19 > PM<http://alanpetersnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2009/07/dont-shoot-back-dont...> > > __._, > > __,_._,___ > > blank.gif > < 1KViewDownload > > icon18_email.gif > < 1KViewDownload > > TalibanTruck.png > 263KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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