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Edited on Tue Mar-16-04 03:43 PM by civil_liberties_dem
I believe its worth trying out mercenaries when in a fight like that. Even if they don't kill that many its pretty cheap. Less then 10 grand per mercenary probably, unless he kills many.
And ya you are right getting information out of there is a nightmare. I've seen a video on an islamic website with them killing at least 8 american soldiers in an ambush.. maybe more. There have never been reports about that.
In Iraq the dead is more then 1200 now, according to the military. The reason why the media reports 550 is they are saying 'combat death'.
However if a medic arrives on the scene and decides there is a tiny hope that a guy will live. If he decides to go with an ambulance instead of a body bag, it is counted as 'wounded'. Then there is the fact that the military tries to count every death as accidental. In one week they lost 3 men to drowning deaths. ITS A DESERT! None of those 3 were considered 'dead'.
And of course the real story so far in the war has been the insane numbers of wounded. Which are rivaling the governments claims of vietnam wounded. Which are probably extremely low claims.
The problem in afghanistan is that given the terrain and the layout of the population. Plus different ethnic groups from long ago, no one can ever get control of it. The taliban tried using some of the most brutal measures ever seen. And they couldn't do it. Large areas of the country were under warlord control or the northern alliance. They came rapidly in the late 90's by bribing tons of warlords. However when the money slowed down the warlords went with whoever wanted to pay them at the time (america).
I said before we went into afghanistan that unless we are willing to use beyond taliban measures we will never have control in that country. The taliban weren't being that brutal for the hell of it, afghanistan only allows anyone to have at most 40k troops in there. So it makes so that you need no rear guard. To have no rear guard and little policing you need to have draconian measures so that the people are scared to step out their door.
Just like soviet control in afghanistan started nice and over time got worse and worse. In the end they were just bombing villages outright trying to kill everyone.
Oh ya one last point for now:), the taliban certainly liked american funding however in recent years the islamists funding is incredible. If there is one thing they are not short on well its recruits, but if there is two things it is money. Large amounts of dollar bills and euro dollars. Pure untraceable cash.
Our government tells us we have 100 times the wealth per person that Egypt has. However that is just an outright lie. Maybe we have 1.5 times maybe. I have multiple friends who travel throughout the middle east and they tell a completely different story then we see on tv. My jordanian friend said that jordan is no less developed then canada. Another friend said that the most expensive city he stayed in was cairo. Nightclub entrance fees are 20$ american there and drinks are 5$. However as far as the eye can see every weekend night in Cairo the streets and clubs are PACKED with 20 somethings.
Mercedes run like water hmm nvm, OIL in the middle east. They have modern roads, stop lights, movie theaters, shopping malls. The average family can afford to have the wife stay at home, plus the family can afford food and clothing for 7 children or more. In addition on the one income they can buy a home for their family. Something only the very rich in north america can do. So we are shocked when we see islamists flying around the world using cash then buying up homes using cash.
Our government has been lying about the level of inflation for 30 years now to make it appear like our economy is growing. However in terms of purchasing power americans make less money then they did in the 1970's. Whereas the rest of the world has come so far ahead its not funny. When you look at the real numbers of what does milk cost? What about bread? What about a 2000 square foot house close to work? In those terms the 'third' world is not as far behind as we think.
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