Battered Canadians press on with Operation Medusa

[Judi Lynn]

Battered Canadians press on with Operation Medusa
Five fallen soldiers given solemn sendoff as battle with Taliban rages on

Donald Mcarthur, The Windsor Star; with files from The Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, September 06, 2006



Canadian soldiers pay tribute to fallen comrades, WO Frank Mellish, WO Richard Nolan, Sgt Shane Stachnik and Pte Mark Graham during a Ramp Ceremony held at the Kandahar Air Field.
Photograph by : Department of Defence

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian troops, bloodied but unbowed after suffering dozens of casualties in the opening days of Operation Medusa, pressed ahead yesterday with the offensive to drive insurgents from a stronghold west of Kandahar as the bodies of five of their fallen comrades began the long journey home.

Between 50 and 60 Taliban were killed as Canadian troops engaged entrenched insurgents and continued hammering their positions with heavy artillery, calling in bomb and precision missile strikes from coalition aircraft, said NATO officials, citing reports from the front lines and surveillance systems.

Several suspected militants were captured by Afghan security forces and an attempt by insurgents to break out of their bombarded positions and through the Canadian lines to the south was thwarted by ground troops and attack helicopters. Five Canadian soldiers on patrol suffered non-serious injuries in a mortar attack about 6:30 p.m., a military spokesman said. They were airlifted to the base hospital where three remain and two were released.

"NATO came in to fight terrorism, NATO also came in to guarantee that girls can go to school ... NATO is fighting for universal, human basic values and NATO is doing its very best and NATO will prevail," said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer after meetings with alliance generals at Kandahar airfield.
(snip/...)

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=1a6c6112-553f-44b6-b068-61203dde5df9

[denverbill]

1. What an appropriately named operation - Medusa.

You cut off one head and another appears. The entire war on terror should be called that.

[Posteritatis]

2. Wonder if someone naming the op was editorializing? (n/t)

[CdnObserver]

3. Wrong mythology

A Hydra is dragon-like and has many heads. Medusa has snakes for hair and will turn you to stone with her gaze.

[booley]

14. that's a hydra

sorry nitpicking. But it is. Medusa was cursed by the Gods ot turn anyone that looked upon her into stone.

[daleo]

4. We are supposed to be fighting for womens' rights

Yet we name the operation after a story about a man cutting off a woman's head.

"NATO also came in to guarantee that girls can go to school..."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Yeah, but...

cutting off medusa's head was a good thing.

Weird mythology in this thread...

[daleo]

6. The classical Greeks were very male oriented

I am sure a case could be made that the Medusa legend had a "keep women in their place" subtext. It would probably make an interesting gender studies case study, anyway.

Perhaps more to the point, why use a "pagan" myth as the symbolic name for a battle against a very strict Abrahamic faith group? It could only reinforce their religious stereotypes about the west ("not really monotheistic, Great Satan, etc."). It was a thoughtless bit of nomenclature on someone's part.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Maybe "Operation Minotaur" would be better?

But it actually sounds more like "Operation Sisyphus"

[daleo]

9. LOL, your observation is spot on. n/t

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. Why are we fighting people that never attacked us, or ANYBODY?

.
.
.

Excuse me for seeming obtuse . .

But who has Afghanistan tried to invade lately?

How may coups have they attempted in other nations?

How many military operations they got going on in other people's countries? (the US is currently in over 120 countries)

Sure - Afghanistan is not a paradise

But having cable TV and a SUV don't make Murika a paradise

But it does seem to breed a war-like lot . . .

(sigh)

[oblivious]

11. We have no right or reason to be slaughtering those people.

We have no right to determine what kind of government they have or what laws they make, just as they have no right to force their system upon Canada.

We have sick leaders who have shamed Canada.

[CHIMO]

10. Cannon Fodder

The more things change...

NATO troops leave backdoor open for Taliban

Panjwaii, Afghanistan — Insurgents have been using an unguarded route to slip through the Canadian-led siege of this Taliban stronghold and join the fight, a key local leader and ally of international forces said Wednesday.

While NATO has claimed that 700 Taliban are trapped in the area, locals say there is an easy escape route to the west that has gone unguarded by Canadian and Afghan troops, allowing insurgents to resupply.

Far from fleeing, an unknown number of insurgents are joining the battle against Canadian troops and their allies, says Haji Kheerdin, the Zhari District elder.

He said ISAF is biding its time until the opportune moment arrives “to prosecute more decisively.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060906.wafghh0906/BNStory/International/home

[daleo]

12. Well, if someone wanted to expand the war to Pakistan

This would be a good tactic. "Whoops, the terrorists slipped out, better go chase them."

[CHIMO]

13. Taliban fighters moving with ease: report

Taliban fighters moving with ease: report
Last Updated Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:49:42 EDT
CBC News

Militants from Pakistan, Chechnya and the Middle East are moving in and out of Afghanistan's southern region with ease, despite a Canadian-led siege in the area, a local leader says.

While NATO has claimed 700 Taliban fighters are trapped in the Panjwaii area west of Kandahar, locals say there is an easy escape route that has gone unguarded by Canadian and Afghan troops, allowing insurgents to resupply.

While Musharraf warned he wouldn't let the border region become a militant sanctuary, he said Pakistan would never allow U.S.-led coalition forces into the tribal regions.

"On our side of the border there will be a total uprising if a foreigner enters that area," he said at a joint news conference with Karzai. "It's not possible at all. We will never allow any foreigners into that area. It's against the culture of the people there."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/09/06/pakistan-afghanistan.html

As long as religion is the topic no one will see that nationalism is involved. So no one is allowed to come at things from that perspective. Everthing seems tinder dry.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Thanks so much for the map and this article. Very, very helpful. n/t