tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post6987717235360970304..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: The PriceChris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-3216376607456082782010-08-08T16:47:24.087+12:002010-08-08T16:47:24.087+12:00Honestly Chris- there is no use training soldiers ...Honestly Chris- there is no use training soldiers if you whinge every time they have to do their job.They sign up for fightinhg not joining a sewing circle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-50677559351734599862010-08-05T19:19:05.803+12:002010-08-05T19:19:05.803+12:00I guess it must make a difference what sort of par...I guess it must make a difference what sort of paradigm you have for interpreting the situation.It is useless discussing the merits of being involved in a particular war if that paradigm is different as firstly you have to understand each others paradigm.<br />To put it differently if you were to put the discussion into an argument map we would have had to go back a node.jhnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-23873091374286243802010-08-05T18:29:10.821+12:002010-08-05T18:29:10.821+12:00Good post Chris.
What is worrying is that there w...Good post Chris.<br /><br />What is worrying is that there were at least three ambushes in the previous 14 months and the NZDF did not alter its patrol routines. That may be due to manpower and equipment issues rather than training, but it is a concern.<br /><br />I agree that a combination of good training and Taliban hit and run tactics lowered the casualty rate in the patrol (I am not buying the NZDF line that the firefight lasted hours--unless the Taliban are massed in force along the lines of 10:1, they usually follow up the IED blast with small arms fire until such a time as the ISAF forces find cover, regroup in defensive positions, then counter-attack (which is the standard way of countering an ambush). The Taliban tend to retreat as the ISAF guys are establishing their defensive perimeter so there is no counter-attack needed. That means that most ambushes and subsequent firefights are less than 30 minutes in duration--time enough for a lot of bad to happen but usually not enough to lead to the annihilation of an entire patrol). <br /><br />The issue now is whether National has the political will to stay with the NZDF commitment in the face of wavering public opinion in the lead up to elections. I reckon not.Pablohttp://www.kiwipolitico.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-89510259054318523442010-08-05T15:39:38.112+12:002010-08-05T15:39:38.112+12:00http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.com/2010/08/fall...http://socialistaotearoa.blogspot.com/2010/08/fallujah-posioned-city.html<br /><br />A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but MORE merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain....<br /><br />...If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever.<br /><br />An excerpt from George Orwell’s 1984.<br />...<br />The effects of DU are just beginning as it has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Thus the doctors of Fallujah are going to have their work cut out.<br /><br /> "We are seeing a very significant increase in central nervous system anomalies," said Falluja general hospital's director and senior specialist, Dr Ayman Qais. "Before 2003 [the start of the war] I was seeing sporadic numbers of deformities in babies. Now the frequency of deformities has increased dramatically."<br /><br />Holiday in Fallujah<br />The destruction of Fallujah, once an ancient university town, into a radioactive, bombed out, corrupt, open air prison gives a chilling vision of what happens when the US military decides to punish a population for resisting occupation. Fallujah is the archetypal dystopian city brought into existence by US imperialism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-32631295600259695192010-08-04T20:54:37.577+12:002010-08-04T20:54:37.577+12:00Whose price is it?
In that quest, an open letter...Whose price is it? <br /><br />In that quest, an open letter to Keith Locke mp.<br /><br />I read this in the Herald, attributed to you:<br /><br />"We are proud of the good peacekeeping and reconstruction work that our Provincial Reconstruction Team has done in Bamian Province, and we mourn the loss of one of its members."<br /><br />If those words are not misquoted, then I'm really angry at your misrepresentation.<br /><br />What's going on here? <br /><br />You've read all the books and been constantly active in the anti imperialist movement for literally half a century. You must be much more acutely aware than most people that the so called Provincial Reconstruction Team that the New Zealand state sent to Afghanistan is not about peacekeeping, or reconstruction , or is, in any way, "ours".<br /><br />You must similarly know that unless someone belongs to or chooses to identify with the New Zealand ruling classes, or is a bought hack journalist, or has not had access to the most rudimentary understanding of class politics, that: "our Provincial Reconstruction Team" is not based in Afghanistan for peacekeeping, good or otherwise.<br /><br />Death in war is an understandable trigger for human emotions. So lets get the whole picture here. How many Afghanistan people have been killed by New Zealand invaders of their country? When do we mourn and how do we begin to try and make amends?<br /><br />People die every day in the course of their calling. The NZ army officer killed by Afghanistan people trying to evict invaders from their land is the first invading New Zealand trooper to die there since 2003. How many industrial deaths have there been in New Zealand since that time? How many flags were lowered, how many media voices theatrically quavered and how many Prime ministers broke routine for those working class victims of the class war?<br /><br />Let the ruling classes do their barbarous inhuman dirty work alone and unaided.<br /><br />Our little time on this earth has more urgent and honorable calls on it; to revive the antimperialist antiwar movement in this country. <br /><br /> <br /><br />Don FranksDon Franksnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-49554566487108569042010-08-04T16:47:27.538+12:002010-08-04T16:47:27.538+12:00An entirely fair assumption, Petero.
Now, ask yo...An entirely fair assumption, Petero. <br /><br />Now, ask yourself: How many Taliban fighters generally walk away from an ISAF ambush?<br /><br />Training is everything.Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-47932823662832748682010-08-04T16:35:00.621+12:002010-08-04T16:35:00.621+12:00"As the independent NZ war correspondent, Jon..."As the independent NZ war correspondent, Jon Stephenson, observed on Radio New Zealand – National’s "Nine to Noon" show, if an ambush is properly organised there should be no one left to walk away."<br /><br />Really? With the exception of the two American navymen who got lost in Logar, I'm unable to think of a single instance where a unit/column/convoy of Allied soldiers has been wiped out to a man. By Stephenson's logic, we can only conclude the Taliban are militarily inept.Petero Civonicevanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-64745571989983141382010-08-04T15:18:35.135+12:002010-08-04T15:18:35.135+12:00Damn right.
Why not have the soldiers here, making...Damn right.<br />Why not have the soldiers here, making our streets safe and building infrastructure for us.<br />You know us, the people who are paying the bills.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-54204090467701616722010-08-04T13:43:18.784+12:002010-08-04T13:43:18.784+12:00I agree with your article. When I was reading Key...I agree with your article. When I was reading Key's comments about fighting in Afghanistan to protect NZ from terrorism, something seemed rather familiar. Then it came to me, aha, that's only a one word variation of the justification when NZ soldiers were sent to Vietnam, except in those days the bogey was 'communism' not 'terrorism'.<br /><br />Apart from that, the similarities are frightening, such as the involvement in a civil war in order to keep the USA happy with us.Allannoreply@blogger.com