AP: Blair: Afghan War Tougher Than Expected

[Eugene]

Blair: Afghan War Tougher Than Expected

By JENNIFER QUINN
The Associated Press
Sunday, September 24, 2006; 10:03 AM

MANCHESTER, England -- Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that NATO's battle
with Afghan insurgents has been more difficult than anticipated but must continue.

"I think the particular mission was tougher than anyone expected. But I'm not
surprised it was tough," Blair said in an interview with the British Broadcasting
Corp. TV in Manchester, where his Labour Party is holding its annual meeting.
"The British troops there are doing just an incredible job."

-snip-

Over the last few months, southern Afghanistan has seen some of the fiercest
fighting since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban regime. Blair's
government has had to cope with charges by middle-ranking officers in Afghanistan
that ground troops have not received adequate air support and other backing.

-snip-

Britain's army has been defending itself in response to critical e-mail messages
from officers that were leaked to the news media.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/24/AR2006092400160.html

[independentpiney]

1. I guess Tonyboy doesn't know his British history too well n/t

[fedsron2us]

2. He could start by reading Kipling's Arithmetic on the Frontier

A scrimmage in a Border Station
A canter down some dark defile,
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail

Of course, unlike the Victorian British the Blair & Co have absolutely no intentions of sending their sons and daughters to die in Afghanistan. They are leaving that task to the lower classes they so despise and the few remaining old school toffs who still have some bizarre notion of duty to their country.

[cliss]

3. Good point.

I think we know more than he does.....

Pathetic.

[Journeyman]

4. No. It isn't. Not for those who know history. . .

or who have stayed current with events within their lifetime. Welcome to Your Nightmare, Mr Blair. You'll be sharing it with a host of others and the ghosts of legions of predecessors. Maybe now you'll learn the lessons many of the rest of us knew full well before 2001.

[sarge43]

5. Ask not for whom the clue phone rings, Tony.

That has to be spin bs; he can't be that ignorant.

[SKKY]

6. Of course it's tougher. You go in there half-assed and don't stay...

...in long enough to finish the job, that's what happens. If we fucked the same way we fight wars, the human race would cease to be in relatively
short order.

[sarge43]

9. That's a keeper.

:applause:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Guess he never paid attention to that little Soviet occupation thang

Wot a maroon.

[NYC]

8. Rudyard Kipling:

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

Excerpt from The Young British Soldier.

http://www.zeitcom.com/majgen/09kipling.html

[samsingh]

10. tougher than expected for imbeciles like you blair and your

chimpy master.

the rest of us were pointing this out and being called names by you and your cowardly friends.