Afghan Air Strikes

[alaskaguy]

Anybody watch 60 minutes and listen to the segment on the air strikes in Afghanistan?

"The fighting is the greatest it has been since the beginning of the war and more civilians are dying"

Afghan President Karzai is requesting that the air strikes be discontinued because too many civilians are being killed.

link:
Karzai: Stop The Air Strikes, Afghan President Tells 60 Minutes That Too Many Civilians Are Being Killed - CBS News

[Cyclonepride]

I didn't catch that. The reason civilians are being killed is because the bastards we are fighting hide among them, and sometimes, I think they count people as civilian if they aren't grasping an AK in their hands when they find them. We obviously need to try to minimize mistakes and civilian casualties, but we also need to allow troops to protect themselves, and get the bad guys.

[herbiedoobie]

Ironically, I agree with Karzai. To win a CounterInsurgency, we need to close with, and destroy the enemy, when you can. The Bad Guys in Afghanistan see our soldiers as cowards, who, after getting their butts kicked by the "brave, Islamic warriors" turn their tails and call in an airstrike, to hide their moral weakness.

Part of the problem is the Air Force, pushing air strikes like a druggie on the schoolyard, and the other problem is risk averse commanders and politicians, who are willing to accept "furrin devil" civilian casualties in lieu of taking one US casualty, ourselves.

The problem is, air strikes create more bad guys, which results in more attacks, which results in three casualties later, for the one you failed to take today. The problem isn't the bad guys using civilians for shields, it's idiotic US commanders who attack the target with airstrikes, anyway.