The Deadliest Weapon
November 15, 2009 4:53 PM
Byron Pitts and 60 Minutes cameras spend two days on the road with a bomb-hunting unit in Afghanistan as they encounter one deadly bomb after another.
Recent Segments
Scroll Left Scroll Right
November 15, 2009 4:53 PM
Byron Pitts and 60 Minutes cameras spend two days on the road with a bomb-hunting unit in Afghanistan as they encounter one deadly bomb after another.
Web Extra: Bomb Squad Training 3:15 November 15, 2009
Web Extra: The Deadliest Job 2:01 November 15, 2009
Web Extra: 5 Bombs in Two Days 1:21 November 15, 2009
Sabotaging The System 18:36 November 8, 2009
Web Extra: Hacking the ATMs 1:32 November 8, 2009
Web Extra: The Holy Grail 2:16 November 8, 2009
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 36 CommentsGranted it gives us insight into this frustrating job, but it does not help, or even contribute to, the winning of this war. It is only what it is; a field trip into this misery. Better for Bryon. Not any use to us.
Unless the people on the ground in Afghanistan..the villagers, the locals and the shura leaders used their collective influence to stop this..then this type of situation will go on indefinitely.
Khost/Paktia Provinces/2003
Something about the McChrystal interview disturbed me, and it wasn't until the, "Deadliest Weapon," interview that I figured it out. While civilians find themselves in a bullets way, by their permissable or particially participatle practics, they make themselves part of the problem. The first goal should be to kill the emeny (terrorists, the second should always be to protect the troops. It is nothing sadder then to see the willingness to accept self losses. If a bomb is placed in the same location, then why isn't that area underwatch until the bombplacer is killed. Because chances are, that bomb placer is that farmer? Terrorism aside, I have seen this attitude in Baltimore City in regards to crime and criminals. A store is robbed, the perpitrator caught red handed and that owner is told he was sentenced to four years in jail. The sad truth is, all but three months were actually suspended. The same can be said for terrorism. The more that is tolerated and permitted, the more that is going to be coming our way.
One of the previous problems with Afgahnistan is that we pushed the terrorists into Pakestan and they did nothing. Now that they are fighting back, we decide to do nothing. Foreigners are said not to like this country and personally, I have found this to be wrong. Most become angry at us, because they dont have the ability to fight for right, we come in and usually at the worst time, we suddenly leave; as they hold the bag. With Pakestan fighting, we should have been right their on the other side of the border killing off those terrorists. There is no noman's land in war. Period.
My feelings towards terrorists formed when I realized that we publish the names of all people killed by terrorists in the paper. Very often, side by side, we publish the numbers of Muslims killed by terrorists for various terrorist attacks. With a rate of 10 to 100 times more then us. Terrorism is nothing more then a tyranny that can not be permitted any quarter by any county or group of peoples.
I think the soldier being interviewed at the end of the segment wrapped it up best and put the reporter in his place when asked, "Do you ever think this is a fight you cant win?" and he responded "I try not to think about it because it doesnt do anyone any good." I think the negative reporting doesnt do anyone anygood.
And Lord help the interviewer should a soldier save his life while he hacks away at their cause and emboldens the enemy.
Hey, to buy the land, build a school, equip it completely and fund a teacher for three years in Afghanistan costs $50 thou. You do the math.
Societies which support massive stupidity for long and deny the wake up call are doomed to go down. How come we want to eat dumb with a ladle in each hand?
Having said that, how is it possible that as the superpower of the world, the US is not able to outsmart the "enemy" with technology? Seems astounding to me.
The troops there are fearless heroes. Thanks guys and gals!
Tracy
I'm sure we're already doing something like, say, using infrared cameras in those hunter vehicles to scan the landscape being patrolled for unusual infrared anomalies alongside roads and in nearby structures that could house an IED or an attacker.
But there must be other similar feasible detection methods we could make use of by, say, calibrating cameras or other sensors to detect certain man-made materials like plastic and metal that a trip line or bomb components might be made of.
Perhaps we could spray these dirt roads and high-risk areas with some sort of substance that would be detectable under UV light, or something like that (there must be harmless and cheap substances that would fit that profile). Then it would be easier to see which roadsides had been disturbed in unusual ways that might be hard to see with the the naked eye or whatever other tools we're using now.
It just seems like it would save a lot of soldiers' lives over there if we would put together a fresh team of scientists or other relevant experts to brainstorm about new and innovative ways to cut down on IED casualties by drastically improving detection methods in ways like these. There have to be things like this we can do to help our guys out.
While we're at it, why not train a few more hi-res satellites on trouble spots so that when a bomb goes off, you can roll the video (or time-lapse images, or whatever) backwards to track the people who planted the thing, or to see where people who were suspiciously nearby at the time were before an explosion, or where they went after that. I'm sure there are plenty of satellites that would at least have the ability to do that in at least the highest-risk areas for bombs and attacks.
Like I said, 'm sure our guys already have excellent tools, but it seems like we owe it to our soldiers to think outside the box a little bit. Who knows, maybe a few simple things we haven't thought of yet will help turn the tide over there yet?
That segment pretty much disgusted me, both as a soldier and a citizen. In this economy, we are all "surviving" for the most part. Whether it's just keeping a job, home or life, it should still be celebrated, not maligned. Please stop using your job to make political statements. Mr Murrow would be frowning at you.
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 36 Comments