Bradleys are very tall effective vehicles, designed for nipping around a mobile armoured battlefield at high speed.
They do that extremely well, they are how ever high, and flatbottomed, with most of their armour concentrated across the front.
They are extremely vulnerable to IEDs.
Quote: DaButt @ June 19 2008, 10:36 PM BSTSo what's the limit on modern casualties that an army can sustain before running away? 100? 50? 10? A single soldier?
No one is asking them to run away.
Are you the taliban?
IMHO, there is only one reason to be in Afghanistan and that is to wipe out the poppy fields that fuel drug imports to this country. That is the only reason I would agree to our soldiers being there.
Good Point Alan C & agreed.
Quote: Alan C @ June 19 2008, 11:00 PM BSTIMHO, there is only one reason to be in Afghanistan and that is to wipe out the poppy fields that fuel drug imports to this country. That is the only reason I would agree to our soldiers being there.
Which is ironic, since the Taliban were strongly anti-drugs and had the problem more or less under control. Since the beginning of the war heroine exports have increased exponentially.
I never knew that Timbo.
I have much to learn still.
Quote: Timbo @ June 19 2008, 10:58 PM BSTWe should not be in Afghanistan. We invaded partly because for domestic political reasons Bush needed be seen to be doing something in response to 9/11 and partly because 9/11 could not be used as a pretext for the long held Neo Con project of invading Iraq without invading Afghanistan first.
Utter rubbish. The Taliban were given plenty of chances to turn over Osama, but they were more interested in training tens of thousands of terrorists to attack the West and anyone else who stood in the way of their vision of global domination. They wanted a war and they got one.
Quote: Timbo @ June 19 2008, 10:58 PM BSTNeither war ever stood the remotest chance of success other than as a punitive action. Hanging around to engage in nation-building on a democratic model was always going to be a disaster. The only way we will ever 'civilise' these countries is by treating them in a civilised fashion and letting them find their own destiny
As long as their stated destiny is the ultimate destruction of me, my family and my nation, then I'll be happy for the punitive action to go on indefinitely. Perhaps we'll find it in our hearts to treat them in a "civilized" fashion once they stop the rather uncivilized practice of sawing off heads.
Quote: Timbo @ June 19 2008, 11:02 PM BSTWhich is ironic, since the Taliban were strongly anti-drugs and had the problem more or less under control. Since the beginning of the war heroine exports have increased exponentially.
Oh now that is silly, very silly.
They periodically reduced supply to force the price up.
Fundamentalists, murderers, opressors, and about the worlds most organised drug dealers.
The Taliban were created by Pakistan's secret service, to provide some stability after the Russo-Afghan war, when the Mujahadeen (who are native to Afgahnistan, and won that war), ran wild.
The US funded and supported them, then dumped them when the war was won.
Weren't the Russians fighting the Taliban and the US helped to arm them?
Indeed it is and the terrorist aspect to this campaign is one HUGE smokescreen as is the invasion of Iraq. Never underestimate the thinking of major powers to be in the right place at the right time. The US Army has no hidden agenda, it is all very open - their motto is to protect the interests of the USA around the world - go figure.
Or as has been seen from previous un-won wars, to attempt to impose the USA around the world!
Quote: David Chapman @ June 19 2008, 11:11 PM BSTWeren't the Russians fighting the Taliban and the US helped to arm them?
Nope the Mujahadeen fought the Russians, they actually fought the Taliban as mercenaries in the very early stages of the Western invasion.
Quote: DaButt @ June 19 2008, 11:08 PM BSTAs long as their stated destiny is the ultimate destruction of me, my family and my nation, then I'll be happy for the punitive action to go on indefinitely. Perhaps we'll find it in our hearts to treat them in a "civilized" fashion once they stop the rather uncivilized practice of sawing off heads.
Are the saws fitted with IEDs?
Quote: Alan C @ June 19 2008, 11:12 PM BSTIndeed it is and the terrorist aspect to this campaign is one HUGE smokescreen as is the invasion of Iraq.
You're tiptoeing dangerously close to truther territory.
Quote: Alan C @ June 19 2008, 11:12 PM BSTThe US Army has no hidden agenda, it is all very open - their motto is "to protect the interests of the USA around the world" - go figure.
Wrong. The motto of the US Army is "This we'll defend." Trust me, I know.
The USA is basically the Fourth Reich