Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

:/
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Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=GMScud;820739]This made me sick to my stomach. We need to get out of these wars.

[url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-06-06-27-19]News from The Associated Press[/url][/quote]

Tragic. Though they weren't the same men who killed Bin Laden, just the same unit. I was just coming on here to start a new thread on this actually.

Also, everyone should read this. Remarkable story

[url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_schmidle]The Mission to Get Osama Bin Laden : The New Yorker[/url]

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=SmootSmack;820760]Tragic. Though they weren't the same men who killed Bin Laden, just the same unit. I was just coming on here to start a new thread on this actually.

Also, everyone should read this. Remarkable story

[URL="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_schmidle"]The Mission to Get Osama Bin Laden : The New Yorker[/URL][/quote]

Yeah I saw that story on SherrifGonnaGetcha's facebook page. Amazing stuff.

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

Awful, horrific story. Many of those killed came from my area.

But we all have to ask ourselves this ... if foreign military helicopters were flying around the United States, and our government wouldn't or couldn't do anything about it, what would all of us do?

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=GMScud;820739]This made me sick to my stomach. We need to get out of these wars.

[url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-06-06-27-19]News from The Associated Press[/url][/quote]

just an awful terrible loss

we'll have to wait for a full report but from the sounds of things it was shot down, which leads me to this question, why would a chinook be landing in a hot lz? those things are like flying a tour bus

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

A customer/friend of mine works very close with the seals and this explains why he disappeared from Nags Head over the wwekend. I wa suppose to hang with him on the beach Saturday and he wasgone and did not answer his phone. I'm guessing this has hit him hard because he thinks of those kids like his won.

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=mlmdub130;821001]just an awful terrible loss

we'll have to wait for a full report but from the sounds of things it was shot down, which leads me to this question, [B]why would a chinook be landing in a hot lz? those things are like flying a tour bus[/B][/quote]


That sounded a little strange to me too. Really sad loss. Puts a lot of other things in perspective.

Here are the men that were killed:

[url=http://www.wjla.com/pictures/2011/08/photos-of-the-fallen-30-americans-shot-down-in-afghanistan-/6227-451.html]Photos of the Fallen: Americans shot down in Afghanistan - Pictures | WJLA.com[/url]

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

The pilot of the Chinook was just 9 days from deploying home. He leaves a 10-year old son behind.

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=mlmpetert;821536]That sounded a little strange to me too. Really sad loss. Puts a lot of other things in perspective.

Here are the men that were killed:

[url=http://www.wjla.com/pictures/2011/08/photos-of-the-fallen-30-americans-shot-down-in-afghanistan-/6227-451.html]Photos of the Fallen: Americans shot down in Afghanistan - Pictures | WJLA.com[/url][/quote]

Aaron Vaughn is the husband of a Redskins cheerleader. Though I'm not sure she's still a cheerleader on the squad

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=SmootSmack;821556]Aaron Vaughn is the husband of a Redskins cheerleader. Though I'm not sure she's still a cheerleader on the squad[/quote]

[url=http://www.alumnicheerleaders.com/profiles/blogs/prayers-for-kimberly-linberger-vaughn-former-redskins-cheerleader]Prayers for Kimberly Linberger Vaughn (former Redskins Cheerleader) & Family - Widow of Navy SEAL, - Alumni Cheerleaders[/url]

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

I have avoided the news the past several days because they are showing all the kids/babies and families these brave men have left behind. We really need to get these guys home and take a new approach to figting terrorist.

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=JoeRedskin;821567][URL="http://www.alumnicheerleaders.com/profiles/blogs/prayers-for-kimberly-linberger-vaughn-former-redskins-cheerleader"]Prayers for Kimberly Linberger Vaughn (former Redskins Cheerleader) & Family - Widow of Navy SEAL, - Alumni Cheerleaders[/URL][/quote]

He leaves behind a two year and a two month old. Ugh.

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

[quote=firstdown;821570]I have avoided the news the past several days because they are showing all the kids/babies and families these brave men have left behind. We really need to get these guys home and take a [B]new approach to figting terrorist[/B].[/quote]It's called Predator drones, A-10s, and the SEALS clean up what's left (should be pieces and that's about it).

I like in VB near where SEAL Team 6 is from, I'll just leave it at that. This kind of horrific, [B]PREVENTABLE[/B], loss makes me f-ing sick.

From the AP link:
[B]"Saturday's mission was flown by a conventional air crew[/B], instead of the overstretched pilots of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, two U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
There are so many special operations missions every night- a dozen or so, adding up to roughly 300 a month - that [B]they often are assigned to non-special-operations pilots and aircraft,[/B] according to one officer in the war zone and a second U.S. official familiar with the special operations missions. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to comment publicly.
Conventional helicopter pilot crews sometimes support up to two missions in the same night, the officer in the war zone said.
[B]The 160th special operations regiment flies more technically advanced Chinook helicopters and spends more time on the ground in Afghanistan than many conventional military pilot crews do.[/B] But a U.S. official familiar with their operations said that while those advantages help in cases of bad weather or tricky terrain, there is little that any crew can do to move a slow-moving Chinook out of harm's way when under fire.
Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said nothing done to a helicopter can prevent it from being vulnerable if it hovers, lands or takes off in any area where militants are present.
"We should not overreact to worst-case incidents or exaggerate their tactical and strategic importance," Cordesman said."

If we (the U.S.) are going to commit to the War on Terrorism then fight the damn war like a f-ing WAR and not be afraid of stray ordnance hitting an animal, worrying about the Afghan gov't leaking something to the media and getting bad press, or worry about the cost. If we know the Taliban or another terrorist group is conducting operations in an area, let's not send in 10-30 Spec Ops troops in a flying bus into a massacre. If it's not a population center, LEVEL THE DAMN AREA, then send the SEALS in to clean up.

If the war is so important who gives a F about the media, what the Afghan or whatever gov't has to say, or how much it costs to bring in more Spec Ops aircrews. The lives of these extraordinarily brave, patriotic, and good men deserve better leadership from the civilian side than what they're getting. They risk their lives everyday for the safety of the American people and the politicians worry about opinion polls and f-ing op-eds. If the war isn't that important to not bear any political, media related risk or financial cost, then get the F out and bring these kids home.

We are by far and away the strongest military in the world, if we commit to eliminating the Taliban we damn well could in short f-ing order.

And this goes for the Bush Admin and the Rs in DC too. If Bush had done what he needed to with the firepower we sent over there, the Taliban would be too terrified to stick their heads out from whatever hole they hide in....if there were any left.

LeMay Doctrine saves American lives, but the WH and Congress are too cowardly.

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

it's not really as easy as levelling the place... you can't always tell who's got bad intentions and who's innocent, and we've ended up harassing a lot of innocent people and town elders, which hasn't helped our cause. The ISI plays both sides and iran is funding and recruiting in some cases.

we've outlawed the cash crop most people survived on (opium) and we have a situation the english call terry taliban... someone offers an afghani $5 to take this gun and go shoot it at the fence... they need the money and it doesn't seem that hard... but no matter how many foot soldiers you take out, they're infinitely replaceable.


the biggest problem is we know how to effectively fight an insurgency, but its done on the scale of decades and right now the US is trying to accomplish it in a matter of months with a mass assassination strategy that has, at least in some cases, backfired horribly.

the other problem is it's not one afghanistan, some areas are pretty much completely safe, while others, well... aren't.

there's really a lot more going on, and i've really kinda glossed over/simplified some things, but i'm sick of talking and dealing with it. bombs out won't fix it.

Re: Bin Laden Killed
 

BREAKING: NATO strike kills Taliban insurgents that "downed Navy SEALS chopper"

[url=http://bbc.in/bsYxBA]BBC News - Home[/url]

That didn't too long.