3,200 Marines Prepare for Afghan Tour

[TomInTib]

Oh, just peachy....

January 14, 2008 09:00 PM EST
WASHINGTON — Military officials said Monday that about 3,200 Marines are being told to prepare to go to Afghanistan _ a move that will boost combat troop levels in time for an expected Taliban offensive this spring.

Once complete, the deployment would increase U.S. forces in Afghanistan to as much as 30,000, the highest level since the 2001 invasion after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The notices come as explosions rocked Kabul's most popular luxury hotel Monday, killing at least six people, including one American and a journalist from Norway. Officials said the assault on the Serena Hotel by militants may signal a new era of Taliban attacks.

The military began notifying the Marines and their families over the weekend, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to sign the formal deployment orders. It was not clear Monday whether the orders had been signed yet.

more on just how wonderful things are going in Afghanistan:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080114/marines-afghanistan/

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Kipling

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

From "The Young British Soldier"

Which my grandfather was when he went to fight on the NW Frontier against the Afghans.

[Hekate]

2. But did Bush ever read Kipling? Noooooo. nt

[TomInTib]

4. Wow.

I have never known anyone whose family member(s) fought there.

Did he ever speak of it?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. He died long before I was born.

He also fought the Boers in South Africa.

He and my Grandmother emigrated to Canada with their 6 kids, including my mother. He took a job as a contracted horse breaker for the Canadian Army (he had been a cavalryman). He got on the wrong horse and was killed. My grandmother put the 2 sons up for adoption and took the 4 girls to the United States in 1919.

I only heard a few of his stories from my grandmother.

[TomInTib]

12. Goodness...

It is stories such as this that keep this Universe so rich...

To fight those fights and to die that die...

We've got nothing on the Old Ones...

Tom

[Hekate]

3. It didn't have to be this way...not the resurgance of the Taliban, not the bumper crop of opium....

Gods help those Marines.

Hekate

[TomInTib]

5. Yeah, God help 'em.

'Cause ain't nobody else gonna do it.

Ya know, S.., I need to get back to you on a few things.

[Hekate]

8. Probably so...

:hi:

[spanone]

6. surging everywhere.....fuckers

[LucyParsons]

7. I know someone

Who we suspect has been redeployed from Iraq to Afghanistan this week. Now it makes sense.

:(

[spindrifter]

9. I've been back from Kabul

for almost a month. I was totally shocked when I saw the news about the attack at the Serena. The hotel security was increasing toward the end of my stay in Afghanistan. Apparently, they used rockets to breach the entrance security--along with guns. I hope that I didn't know any of the internationals who were killed and injured--and that the woman hotel employee who was killed was not one that used to stand at the metal detector at the entrance to the hotel itself.
The security situation in Kabul is deteriorating seriously. This underscores how fragile life is getting there.

[Disturbed]

11. Will the Afghans be defeated?

Maybe this time will be the one time that the Afghans
will not be able to expel their Invaders as they have for hundreds of years but
I doubt it.

[spindrifter]

13. It depends on who you think the

"invaders" are. Many of the Taliban are Pashtuns, separated by another western-drawn border from their brothers and sisters in Afghanistan. Much of the problem is the lack of a cohesive rule of law. The Taliban come into villages where there are no jobs, no food, no hope for young people and they promise to pay for madrassa education or food--and they come through on their promises. Meanwhile, the police and other links to the central government are so poorly paid and uneducated that they rob from the people. Not a good way to instill allegiance to Kabul. One thing is certain...there is no easy fix, but working on basic infrastructure is a worthwhile step to take.

[bdamomma]

14. it won't stop until we make this filthy administration stop.

more dead and wounded soldiers, I am beginning to think * wants to eliminate our armed forces cause he does have more mercenaries soldiers like Blackwater to do they damn well please.