Afghan family members, who had fled from Marjha and neigoborhood, sitting on the back of a truck, arrive in Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. On Friday, the road between Marjah and Lashkar Gah was clogged with cars and trucks filled with people fleeing ahead of the assault. Many said they had to leave quickly and secretly to avoid recrimination from Taliban commanders. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaliq)
I mean, this is what it is all about to me.
Have you ever seen such beautiful people in your whole life?
I mean, c'mon, those kids are cute as buttons!
So why are we killing their men over a lie and making them flee their homes?
"NATO forces warn of offensive strike against Taliban; Afghan citizens flee Marjah as militants dig in" by Noor Khan, Associated Press | February 8, 2010
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Minivans piled high with mattresses and clothing lined up at checkpoints yesterday as hundreds of civilians fled a Taliban-controlled area ahead of a planned NATO offensive in southern Afghanistan....
The US military has said fighting will start soon, and many residents were not taking any chances.
American aircraft dropped leaflets over Marjah yesterday warning people of the coming offensive, officers said, and the United States fired illumination rounds after sundown, apparently to help spot Taliban positions.
That's USING WMD and a WAR CRIME, AmeriKa!!!!!
And we dropped leaflets like the Nazis did over France in WWII, huh, AmeriKa?
Yeah, that's why you get the capital K.
Villagers said the leaflets were aimed primarily at the militants, listing several of their commanders by name and warning fighters to leave the area or be killed....
Also see: Pashtun History Lesson
Pashtun Hospitality
What incredible people! Better than you, 'murkn!
Mohammad Hakim, 55, a tribal leader in Marjah, said fear has risen over the past two weeks, and he knows at least 20 families who had left. He himself planned to take his wife, nine sons, four daughters, and grandchildren to live with relatives in Lashkar Gah.
What a LOVELY FAMILY!!!!
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And then the mixed messages (some would call them lies) from the MSM started.
"UK deaths in Afghanistan hit 256; More expected, Britain warns as offensive looms" by Robert H. Reid, Associated Press | February 9, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan and US officials say there is little evidence that significant numbers of.... civilians have fled Marjah.
--more--"Really?
"Families flee Afghan town as US prepares offensive" by Tini Tran, Associated Press | February 11, 2010
WTF, MSM?!!!!!
KABUL, Afghanistan - About 300 families have already fled a southern Afghan town ahead of a major US-Afghan offensive planned on a key Taliban stronghold, provincial officials said yesterday.....
Daoud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand Province’s governor, Gulab Mangal, said some 300 families - an estimated 1,800 people - have moved out of Marjah recently to the capital of Lashkar Gah, about 20 miles to the northeast, where they are living with relatives or in government-sponsored shelters.
Ahmadi said preparations have been made to receive more refugees if necessary....
I'm sure it will be if the others can make it out alive.
Calling his hometown of Marjah a “ghost village,’’ resident Mohammad Hakim said he tried to leave with his family this week before the military offensive began, but he was stopped by a group of 30 to 40 Taliban fighters who were patrolling the area.
Or it will be shortly.
“I already packed. My family was ready. It was difficult to find a car but I got one,’’ he said in a phone interview. “But the Taliban stopped me and told me not to come out because they had already planted mines on the road. ‘It’s safer for you to stay in your houses.’ ’’
Okay, so the Taliban said that, huh?
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Please remember that the Taliban said to stay home, readers.
"NATO, Afghan forces gird for battle to retake Taliban stronghold; Southern enclave of canals is hub for drug industry" by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post | February 10, 2010
IN CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Afghan leaders and foreign military commanders differ over how civilians should respond to the offensive.
Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told senior US and NATO military officials that civilians should be encouraged to flee the area. But Carter said US and British commanders want Marja residents to stay put....
So US and British commanders are Taliban, huh? Who knew?
So are they leaving or aren't they?
"US Marines, Afghan troops attack Taliban-held town" by Alfred de Montesquiou and Christopher Torchia, Associated Press Writers | February 12, 2010
NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan -- On the eve of the attack, cars and trucks jammed the main road out of Marjah on Friday as hundreds of civilians defied militant orders and fled the area.
It's what is called "little evidence."
Pfffft!
I m so sick of being lied to, readers.
For weeks, U.S. commanders had signaled their intention to attack Marjah in hopes that civilians would seek shelter.
Residents told The Associated Press by telephone this week that Taliban fighters were preventing them from leaving, warning the roads were planted with land mines to slow the NATO advance.
Still, many people fled anyway for the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, 20 miles (30 kilometers) to the northeast. They told journalists they had to leave quickly and secretly to avoid recrimination from Taliban commanders.
Some said they slipped out of town when Taliban commanders weren't watching.
"We were not allowed to come here. We haven't brought any of our belongings. We just tried to get ourselves out," said Bibi Gul, an elderly woman in a black headscarf who arrived in nearby Lashkar Gah with three of her sons. She left three more sons behind in Marjah.
Those are the "Taliban" sons defending their home, aren't they?
Police searched vehicles for any signs of militants, in one case prodding bales of cotton with a metal rod in search of hidden weapons.
"They don't allow families to leave," Marjah resident Qari Mohammad
Provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said about 450 families -- an estimated 2,700 people -- had already sought refuge in Lashkar Gah.
Translation: More pouring in every day.
Most moved in with relatives but more than 100 were being sheltered by the government, he said.
And the ones who are burdened by our mass-murder spree?
The people that live there who are now inconvenienced by AmeriKan-sponsored guests.
Ahmadi said the local government was prepared to shelter 7,000 families in nearby towns, providing them with food, blankets and dishes....
A group of 34 elders sent a letter Friday to the provincial government urging NATO forces to finish the operation in Marjah quickly and avoid harming civilians. Abdul Hai Agha, an elder from Marjah, said local people were frightened and feared they would not be cared for after the Taliban are gone.
Which means Taliban are providing some services, doesn't it?
"We said in this letter that if you are doing this operation in Marjah, do it quickly," Agha told the AP by phone from the town....
That doesn't really sound like a ringing endorsement of the thing, does it?
More like a "hurry up and leave" attitude.
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I'll bet they change their tune after we get started.
"US begins offensive in Taliban haven; Afghan operation is first since surge" by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post | February 13, 2010
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - Civilians sought to leave the area in advance of the operation. Some made it out, traveling in cars and on tractors piled with their belongings, but the insurgents forced others to remain in their homes, military officers said.
Oh, like what the US and British commanders wanted?
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There are millions of Afghan refugees since we started this debacle, America.
This latest move only adds to the total you never hear about in your MSM.
