As usual, no actual war to report so I have to go with this feel-good, we-are-winning, war propaganda:
"Famed Foreign Legion fights on in Afghanistan; Soldiers find ‘home’ among comrades in arms" by Alfred de Montesquiou, Associated Press | November 27, 2009
TORA, Afghanistan - Home has been in many far-flung places for legionnaires during their storied 178-year history - North Africa, the Far East, Mexico, and now the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s US-led International Security Force....
If anything bothers them about the Afghan mission, it’s NATO’s rules of engagement, which stress the need not just to fight the Taliban but to befriend the local population.
Yeah, why would you want to befriend the people you are allegedly there to help?
Duh!
“We’re meant for fighting. There’s too much chatting around here,’’ said Chief Sergeant Alex, downing beers in the legionnaires’ clubhouse at Tora base, an open-air shed whose large flat-screen TV was showing hard-core porn videos to the music of Viagra, a Ukrainian techno band.
Then WHY are we sending more troops?!!!
And WHAT is THAT doing in Afghanistan!!
This is what we bring with us when we "liberate" places?
A 23-year veteran of 17 legion missions, mostly in the Balkans and in former French colonies in Africa, Alex said he was expecting his fifth citation for valor, for a nighttime combat mission with US Special Forces....
So HOW MANY did you KILL that night?
It’s a tradition that dates to the founding of the legion in 1831, after France was bled by the Napoleonic wars and needed foreign men to help conquer and colonize Algeria....
You couldn't have just LEFT like you were FORCED TO LATER, huh, Frenchie?
I guess the French never learn.
Are you telling me Dutch stoners know more?
"Afghans get a little help from Dutch pals; Patiently, troops nurture peace" by Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times | November 27, 2009
TARIN KOWT, Afghanistan - The Netherlands is small but, with 1,500 troops, it is the seventh-largest contributor to NATO’s Afghan effort....
The Dutch strategy, hardly rocket science but implemented earlier and more successfully than those of many allies, involved focusing resources on three “ink spot’’ population centers - Deh Rawood, Tarin Kowt, and Chora - then gradually expanding until the spots merge. Dutch planners said they have concentrated on community development nearly as much as military security and have worked to ensure that complex tribal, political, and governmental interests had a stake in building schools and other civilian projects.
Can we DO THAT WITHOUT the GUNS?
This, they hoped, would encourage residents to protect the structures against Taliban attacks, even if the process required far more time and effort than paying foreign contractors to throw up a showcase project.
Related: The OverBearing Government of Afghanistan
They also sought to engage moderates and Taliban sympathizers long before the United States considered talking to its adversaries, trying to “turn’’ borderline radicals and build up community goodwill....
I am ALWAYS FOR THAT over fighting!!!
--more--"
