Comments on: Official: U.S. Errors Led To Afghan Deaths

Military Did Not Follow Rules For Aerial Bombings, Causing Civilian Deaths, Source Says

[mywordtoo]

Bad Americans, bad, bad, bad. Now Obama will need to make a pit stop and apologize for the evil Americans.

[mecury69]

"It's every American who thinks (or at least is willing to tolerate without protest) that an American life is worth more than an Afghani one."

You are correct. American troops call in air strikes to reduce friendly casualties. And by this report there were none. It's understandable and would probably do the same thing myself (unless trained otherwise). The troops have to get dirty and go in when the Taliban use civilians as shields. It sucks, but that is the reality. War is hell.

But you loose the support of the local population and build up the ranks of the Taliban when so many civilians are killed and no Americans

Remember Vietnam???

[mecury69]

"Check your hsitory books. Nagasaki didn't win too many hearts and minds and it brought about a white flag pretty quickly. Your problem is you think is terms of ground troops.
Posted by rsoxfan1123 at 1:29 PM : Jun 3, 2009"

I'm quite fluent in history, actually.

And your position is we should nuke them?

I'll just rest my case.

[mecury69]

"Had we tried to "liberate" WWII Germany and"win the hearts and minds" of the German people we would've lost that one also. War is war and you need to defeat a country with everything you have or stay out of it.
Posted by rsoxfan1123 at 1:31 PM : Jun 3, 2009"

It's irrational to correlate the threat of WWII Germany to Afghanistan.

[rsoxfan1123]

Had we tried to "liberate" WWII Germany and"win the hearts and minds" of the German people we would've lost that one also. War is war and you need to defeat a country with everything you have or stay out of it.

[rsoxfan1123]

Winning the hearts and minds is the only way to win.
Posted by mecury69 at 1:03 PM : Jun 3, 2009

Check your hsitory books. Nagasaki didn't win too many hearts and minds and it brought about a white flag pretty quickly. Your problem is you think is terms of ground troops.

[mysteriousjz]

That's why we can't win in Afghanistan.

Even if we were to change tactics today, so much resentment has been built up in the populace there from years of these tactics that ours is a lost cause. That's not defeatism, just an honest assessment of the situation. Want to know who is to blame for our "defeat"? It's every American who believes the military-industrial complex's claim that war can be made relatively painless --- at least for us. It's every American who believes that it's OK to reduce our casualties by choice of tactics even when those tactics increase civilian deaths. It's every American who thinks (or at least is willing to tolerate without protest) that an American life is worth more than an Afghani one. And last but not least, it's every American who is painting a console picture "it is their fault-they deserve it."

War isn't a video game for those on the receiving end. Until Americans understand that, we will not only lose in Afghanistan, but also in many other places.

[mecury69]

"when are we going to learn. you have to declare a war against a country and then defeat it- this "liberating" and "winning hearts and minds" won't work until after they wave the white flag.
Posted by rsoxfan1123 at 12:52 PM : Jun 3, 2009"

Sounds good except it would take hundreds of thousands of troops to completely control a country. That means thousands of casualties. In case you were not aware, Russia tried to control Afghanistan for over 10 years with massive troop levels and LOST.

You will not see a white flag anywhere unless there is complete and utter domination and that is not possible in Afghanistan (history shows every single foreign country that has tried has failed).

Winning the hearts and minds is the only way to win.

[mecury69]

"The American government is the world's largest terrorist group in existence. The two lie wars we are in serve no purpose other than for defense contractors to siphon billions of taxpayer dollars,,,,,,they are not about the security of this country as they would have you to believe, it is all for the sake of greed.
Posted by tincup356 at 12:08 PM : Jun 3, 2009"

Yikes, you really need to take off the single minded blinders you have on.

One war is just (Afghan) and one is not (Iraq).

The Tailban (controlling Afghanistan at the time of 9-11) sided with Bin Laden and had the option to turn him over and elected not. There was no other choice than for the American government to protect itself from further attacks.

You really need to stay off the wacky websites with conspiracy fanatics.

[rsoxfan1123]

when are we going to learn. you have to declare a war against a country and then defeat it- this "liberating" and "winning hearts and minds" won't work until after they wave the white flag.