eestlastest afganistanis (ja moonidest ka)

kirjutab DPA. Tõstetakse esile, et ehkki eestlastel on üks väiksemaid kontingente, tegelevad nad see-eest kõige rängemate ülesannetega, st erinevalt mitme meie liitlasriigi väest meie sõdurid sõdivad. Abiks muidugi mõelda, et needsamad patsifistlikud liitlassõdurid Prantsusmaalt, Saksast jne peaksid meile teoreetiliselt häda korral appi tulema... Keegi kihla tahab vedada? Ma ei mäletanudki samas, et hollandlased sõdivad, tundub veidi ootamatu. Ganja vähemalt on käe-jala juurest võtta. Mainitakse ka seda, et eestlased välismissioonidest ülearu vaimustuses ei ole. Kui minu vaated kedagi huvitavad, siis naabrite juures Kosovos peaksime kindlasti olema, aga Afgaanis... terrorism jajah, a ma täpselt ei taipa, kuidas sealne narkokaubandus me riigi huvides on. Mu moraalil pole kanepi sisseveo vastu midagi, aga paraku on põhiartikkel, mida meie relvade kaitse all ekspordiks kasvatatakse ja hiljem meilegi tuuakse, ikkagi heroiin. Ja möla selle kohta, kuidas selles on ka ainult Taliban süüdi, usuvad ainult meie "julgeolekueksperdid" ja "välispoliitikud" kes ei julge end vastava statistikaga kurssi viia. Selles artiklis on ka vastav naljakoht sees. Kui teil on Afgaanis sugulasi-tuttavaid teenimas, eks küsige nendelt, mitu moonipõldu nad maha lõiganud on. Samas räägitakse juba läbirääkimistest taliibidega ja Pakistan on omalt poolt nendega relvarahu sõlminud - mis omakorda suurendab ne survet Afganistanis.
Gulping water from his backpack between compound clearance drills, machine-gunner Raul Pargma, 23, downplays the hardships at the start of a six-month tour in Helmand, dubbed Hell Land by British forces that lead the fight against Taliban insurgents in the southern Afghan province: "I like it here, I feel I'm useful for my country, NATO, my unit," he says.

Moonidest räägib ka see (muidu igati patriootlik jne) Guardiani artikkel, kus on samuti eestlasi mainitud:
The narcotics strategy has failed; last year's poppy crop was a record and prices have crashed. There is talk that some growers have moved their poppies closer to British forces, for safety. Perhaps the high price of wheat will persuade farmers to switch from poison to food. When I suggest to a British official in Kabul simply buying up the poppy crop, he laughs. Helmand would just double production.

peksame maaslamajat

Maaslamajale kulub seegi ära, sest tema hingel on praegu juba sadu tuhandeid elusid. Elektritoolile teda ju saata ei saa. Endine Valge Maja pressisekretär Scott McLellan tunnistab äsjailmunud raamatus, et Bush ei olnud Iraagi asjus otsekohene (tõlge - tõbras valetas külmavereliselt). Muide on liitlaste kaotused sel kuul olnud rekordiliselt madalad (21 laipa), mis tähendab ilmselt, et nad väga palju õues ei käi.

kas sistani kutsus üles ameeriklasi tapma?

AP vahendab, et auväärseim ši-iidi vaimulik ajatolla Sistani on andnud välja suulisi fatwaid ehk vaimulikke edikte, mille kohaselt on võõrvägede ründamine aus tegevus. Ajakirjanikega vestlenud peaministri abi nentis, et okupatsiooni taunimine on legaalne ja vaimulikule kohane väljaütlemine.

kummituslinn Mosul

Samal ajal kui olukord Basras on vähemalt mõneks ajaks paranenud (Bagdadis jätkuvad esialgu hoolimata relvarahust tulevahetus ja plahvatused), käib põhja pool verevalamine. Independenti Patrick Cockburni reportaaž Mosulist, mis väidetakse olevat al-Qaida viimane tugipunkt.

ricardo sanchez süüdistab rumsfeldi valetamises

Endine USA vägede juht Iraagis avaldas mälestusteraamatu, millest Time avaldas katkendi.

So what was Rumsfeld doing? Nineteen months earlier, in September 2004, when it was clearly established in the Fay-Jones report that CJTF-7 was never adequately manned, he called me in from Europe and claimed ignorance, "I didn't know about it," he said. "How could this happen? Why didn't you tell somebody about it?"

Now, he had done exactly the same thing, only this time he had prepared a written memorandum documenting his denials. So it was clearly a pattern on the Secretary's part, and now I recognized it. Bring in the top-level leaders. Profess total ignorance. Ask why he had not been informed. Try to establish that others were screwing things up. Have witnesses in the room to verify his denials. Put it in writing. In essence, Rumsfeld was covering his rear. He was setting up his chain of denials should his actions ever be questioned. And worse yet, in my mind, he was attempting to level all the blame on his generals.

[...]When I was on the ground in Iraq and saw what was going on, I assumed they had done zero Phase IV planning. Now, three years later, I was learning for the first time that my assumption was not completely accurate. In fact, CENTCOM had originally called for twelve to eighteen months of Phase IV activity with active troop deployments. But then CENTCOM had completely walked away by simply stating that the war was over and Phase IV was not their job.