Green-on-blue again
Two Gurkha soldiers were killed in Helmand Province the other day by an Afghan wearing a police uniform while the Gurkas were manning a checkpoint, according to Stars & Stripes;
A statement from the NATO military coalition said only that the assailant was wearing a police uniform, leaving open the possibility that the attacker was a militant posing as a policeman. The statement did not provide details on the shooting, saying it was being investigated.
The British Ministry of Defense said the attack happened at a checkpoint in Helmand Province’s Nahri Sarraj district.
“The loss of these soldiers is a huge blow,” Maj. Laurence Roche, a spokesman for British troops in Helmand, said in a statement.
The two killed soldiers were with the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, he said.
Buried at the end of an article from Adnkronos International about an ambush on some Italian troops is the news that two Americans were also killed in a green-on-blue attack;
Two American troops were killed in southern Uruzgan province by a man wearing a police uniform, a spokesman for the Nato-led ISAF force said, the latest of 53 coalition soldiers be killed i[n] so-called “green on blue” attacks.
Folks who know stuff are telling me that these reports are only the tip of the iceberg of “insider” attacks. Many more are happening but either being classified as another type of death, or don’t result in deaths, so they don’t make the news. The media, during the Bush Administration were upset about battle casualties, but now, during an election year don’t seem quite so concerned, probably because it’s the result of a failure of the overall strategy. The strategy formed in the infertile mind of Joe Bite-Me – the man who has been consistently wrong on every foreign policy issue and every national security issue since he began his political career.
Category: Terror War
Because it does not make him look good, or his opponent look bad, these reports will not be reported. Look at what’s coming out now about Libya… Obama gave a clear order alright… the order to let American’s die.
“The media, during the Bush Administration were upset about battle casualties, but now, during an election year don’t seem quite so concerned, probably because it’s the result of a failure of the overall strategy.”
I just had this conversation last night, that we received weekly death toll updates during the Bush years and now that the media has their darling as president nobody cares to update anyone on the death toll.
That tells me that the media, much like this administration ,likes to use the military when it’s politically expedient to do so, and to denigrate just as easily when that become politically expedient to propose a budget change or a new vision for the future of the nation. It makes the talk about supporting the troops all the more disingenuous to me as it appears to be more politically correct speech that they don’t believe as truth.
How’s that Benghazi investigation going? The real pressure is to ID with specificity a few of the attackers, to “bring them to justice,” and to move on. When that happens, NBC, ABC, CBS, the LA Times, NYT, and Washington Post will be all over the Benghazi story–but only to the extent that they report that obama kept his promise to see justice done.
Aw, come on. You guys should all know that as long as civilians didn’t have to see the carnage on the battlefield, war was glorious. Why else would Homer, a bard, have gone to the trouble of dictating his epic poem “The Iliad” to a scribe? Why else would anyone have gone to the trouble of recording the story of Gilgamish in cuneiform on 12 clay tablets? As long as bards had a job, warfare was their industry and whoever won was glorified as a warrior and/or warrior-king.
The distaste for battlefield info began when Matthew Brady and other photographers went onto Civil War bettlefields like Manassass and recorded the corpses of dead soldiers lying around untended. It disgusted the newspaper-reading public. It raised an outcry. World War II footage shot by Navy and Army film crews was censored to show only the glory, because the uncensored stuff was considered too gruesome for public release. I mean, do you really want to see the corpses lying on Normandy Beach and washing up on the shores of Dunkirk with your Wheaties and orange juice, or while you’re necking with your girlfriend at the movies? Naw, that would spoil the popcorn for you, wouldn’t it?
The press has a notorious history of wanting to win everything without counting the cost. They don’t want to know the details. Hitler’s press was expert at keeping the truth about the death camps out of the newspapers. Stalin’s pogroms and midnight abductions didn’t get publicized, even though everyone knew about them. That would be unpleasant. It’s ironic how the USSR’s official newspaper was titled “Pravda”, which translates as “truth”, when the truth was never published.
The direct battlefield reporting about the Vietnam was uncensored and, to the general public, repugnant. Just remember that LBJ lied his ass off to have his way with Vietnam, and in the end, lied his ass right out of office.
And then we got Nixon. Eew-w-w-w.
AirCav, I wouldn’t count on the media to go after anyone at the very top. They’d more likely go after the people one or two steps below the top.
It is sickening how complacent the media is in all of this. We know darn well that if a Republican was sitting in the Oval Office this would be played on a continuous loop. Since a Democrat is in office they have more important things to do like get Sarah Palin’s emails.
Of all the ISAF troops to go after in Afghanistan, the Ghurkas would be the ones I would stay the hell away from and avoid pissing them off…
Twist, what were you expecting? These people are about as deep as barnyard mud in a drought. They don’t want to do real investigation. That would conflict with their tiny, narrow view of the universe. They get their knickers up their butts if someone raises his voice even one decibel. It’s like watching a bad combo of “Donna Reed” and “Father Knows Best” in a never-ending loop. They don’t want their version of reality tarnished.
GACK!
I almost made myself nauseous.
Story Time
There’s a house that’s under video surveillance by the police. It comes under attack by gang members who are heavily armed. The occupants of the house call the police, describe their situation and ask for help. The police chief is not physically at HQ but is available by phone. The attack intensifies and the occupants request help again and then ask again. No help is dispatched and the occupants of the house are killed. The next day, the deputy chief of police says that the attack was spontaneous and that the gang members were upset with how they were portrayed in a video. The deputy police chief says that the producers of the video were irresponsible and that he understood the outrage of the gang members. Citizens are outraged and the police chief promises that those responsible will be brought to justice. Some people ask whether the attack wasn’t planned. The deputy chief repeats that the attack was spontaneous. Some people ask whether live-video feed wasn’t viewed when the attack began. The police chief says that the situation is fluid and that an investigation will occur. Some people ask whether the calls for help by the occupants were denied and, if so, who said “No.” The police chief says he is offended by the suggestion that he didn’t do all that he could and repeats that when the investigation is concluded that those responsible will be brought to justice. Within a week, the city’s radio, TV stations, and newspapers stop covering the story but some bloggers keep asking questions. This annoys the police chief greatly.
What are the chances that anything even remotely like this might occur in the US? Not good, I’d say. But make the venue Benghazi, the police chief the president, make the deputy the Secretary of State, make the gang members terrorists, and make the victims….you know the rest. Insanity.
@#7, those were exactly my first thoughts when I read this. I wouldn’t want to be among the attacker’s friends or family right now.