We are not winning any of the wars we started

[cynatnite]

snip:
The Taliban are buying more sophisticated arms, and Russian and Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles in particular are flowing into Afghanistan in increasing numbers, according to people familiar with the resistance who spoke to Asia Times Online.

Obviously this gives an added dimension to the Taliban's fighting capabilities, and in recent months they have succeeded in bringing down several helicopters - the most recent being an attack last month that claimed the lives of 17 Spanish soldiers.

In June, 16 US service members aboard a MH-47 helicopter died

snip:
"These foreign guys are pretty well-armed," the Reuters report quoted a US paratrooper on patrol in Orgun-E, an area in southeastern Paktika province, as saying. "They have expensive weapons you can't get in this country."

snip:
Earlier this year, the Iraqi resistance leaked some documents to the media, including Asia Times Online, which showed correspondence between the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and a US contracting firm by the name of Wye Oak Technology. The documents detailed correspondence in August of last year relating to the sale of weapons from Saddam Hussein's army for scrap. The list of weapons includes missiles, artillery and light- and medium-size weapons, all of Russian, Chinese or French origin.

Though there is no way to confirm the authenticity of the documents, it is widely believed that arms of a similar nature made their way onto the black market, and in particular to Iraqi Kurdistan, from where the Taliban is now sourcing Russian and Chinese-made weapons.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GI10Ag01.html

[Geoff R. Casavant]

1. Interesting point

Trying to think of any major war where the instigator was the ultimate victor. Probably a lot of smaller invasions led to temporary victories.

Anyone?

[Politically_Wrong]

2. "We" didn't start them

Bush did. The supreme court and senate havn't gone to war since world war 2...for every war since that, they havn't once declared war, but they HAVE authorized the presidents to do so.