"nothing remains" - 25 Tons of Bombs Wipe Afghan Town Off Map

[kpete]

25 Tons of Bombs Wipe Afghan Town Off Map
* By Spencer Ackerman


An American-led military unit pulverized an Afghan village in Kandahar’s Arghandab River Valley in October, after it became overrun with Taliban insurgents. It’s hard to understand how turning an entire village into dust fits into America’s counterinsurgency strategy — which supposedly prizes the local people’s loyalty above all else.

But it’s the latest indication that Gen. David Petraeus, the counterinsurgency icon, is prosecuting a frustrating war with surprising levels of violence. Some observers already fear a backlash brewing in the area.

Paula Broadwell, a West Point graduate and Petraeus biographer, described the destruction of Tarok Kolache in a guest post for Tom Ricks’ Foreign Policy blog. Or, at least, she described its aftermath: Nothing remains of Tarok Kolache after Lt. Col. David Flynn, commander of Combined Joint Task Force 1-320th, made a fateful decision in October.

His men had come under relentless assault from homemade bombs emanating from the village, where a Taliban “intimidation campaign the villagers out” to create a staging ground for attacking the task force. With multiple U.S. amputations the result of the Taliban hold over Tarok Kolache, Flynn’s men were “terrified to go back into the pomegranate orchards to continue clearing the area; it seemed like certain death.

the rest:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/01/25-tons-of-bombs-wipes-afghan-town-off-the-map/

[hobbit709]

1. "We had to destroy the village in order to save it"

[HereSince1628]

2. Talking bout Ben Tre...Down by the river, come marching along

the local chapter of the Vietcong.

They marched into town with their flags a-wavin,
it was clear to seethat town needed savin.
THEY WALKED IN LIKE THEY LIVED THERE!
Well our boys could SEE what was goin on
They called the General on the telephone...
Which one's the enemy? We can't tell
"I don't know either, blow em all to Hell!!"
The fightin lasted all day long...
Man! We really cooked them Cong!
And also bout ten thousand others
but they was just old folks, kids and mothers...

[HereSince1628]

3. Good thing we saved em...

Some of those kids woulda growed up to be Comminists!

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. God love Pete Seeger.

http://www.lyricsondemand.com/p/peteseegerlyrics/talkingbentreblueslyrics.html

Man, that is a flat learning curve from 68 till now.

but, hey, brown skinned, unchristian, no english...living on land that has what we want...whadda ya expect?

[jwirr]

12. The only thing missing - did some priest stand on top of the hill and

baptize them all first? That is what they did with Indian villages in our nation.

When I read this stuff I sometimes think I am on the wrong side of this fight. Should I really be trying to save this nation? Maybe I should be a repug.

[ixion]

4. They don't "hate us for our freedoms" they hate us because we bomb them...

and can you really blame them for that?

[Lorien]

15. Exactly. How would we feel if invaders did the same to our towns? nt

.

[grahamhgreen]

5. Thank God we now control that peice of dirt! Where's my pomegranate?

[Obamanaut]

6. Much discussion here ->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=232123&mesg_id=232123

[kenny blankenship]

7. If that don't teach 'em to love America then nothing will

Hearts and minds, boys, hearts and minds. Keep up the good work.

[JonLP24]

8. That is sad n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. The ingrates don't understand that we destroyed their village for their own good. K&R

[maryf]

10. speech impaired...

all I can say is wtf, wtf, wtf...
recc'd

[stevenleser]

13. According to the article, all the original villagers had been chased out by the Taliban so...

there were no civilian casualties.

[GSLevel9]

14. nice. So the relatives of the people who lived there become terrorists seeking vengeance.

Rinse, repeat.