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As a Gurkha is disciplined for beheading a Taliban
www.dailymail.co.uk ^ | 07/20/2010 | Robert Hardman

Posted on 03/25/2011 10:00:57 AM PDT by ThinkingBuddha

Just picture the scene as a soldier returns from hunting an arch-enemy. Commanding officer: 'Did you get him?' Soldier: 'Yes, sir.' Commanding officer: 'Are you sure?' Soldier: 'Yes, sir.' Soldier reaches into rucksack and places severed head on table.

Commanding officer: ' ****!' If it happened in a Hollywood movie, the audience would either laugh or applaud. But there was no laughter the other day when this happened for real in Babaji, Afghanistan, current posting for the 1st Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles. The precise circumstances will not be determined until an official report has been completed, but reliable military sources have confirmed that a Gurkha patrol was sent out with orders to track down a Taliban warlord described as a 'high-value target'.

Having identified their target, a fierce battle ensued during which the warlord was killed. To prove that they had got their man, the Gurkhas attempted to remove the body for identification. Further enemy fire necessitated a fast exit minus corpse. So, an unnamed soldier drew his kukri - the standard-issue Gurkha knife - removed the man's head and legged it. Ten out of ten for initiative. Nought out of ten for diplomacy.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; gurkha; pakistan; unitedkingdom; waronterror
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To: ThinkingBuddha

When you have a kukri, every problem looks like a potential beheading.


21 posted on 03/25/2011 10:51:00 AM PDT by RichInOC ("Old man, you fought well, but you lost in the end.")
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To: ThinkingBuddha

The article continues...

Nato forces are supposed to be winning ‘hearts and minds’ and bolstering the fledgling Afghan National Army. This incident, however, has apparently appalled Afghans on all sides, not least because it offends the Muslim tradition of burying the dead with all body parts, attached or unattached.

It transpires that the Gurkha soldier has been removed from operations and sent back to his barracks in Kent pending further investigations. Ministry of Defence sources have been quick to emphasise that the British Army is appalled by what has happened. According to one: ‘There is no sense of glory involved, more a sense of shame. He should not have done what he did.’


22 posted on 03/25/2011 10:58:44 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: absolootezer0

Here’s a comment on the website about the article.

“Let me get this straight. It is all right for muslim terrorists to behead innocent kidnapped victims such as a Wall Street Journal correspondent without consequences, but not acceptable and an offense against their religion for the same thing to be done to the already dead body of a terrorist? Something is askew here and to me it is the politically correct senior idiots in the army and MOD.”


23 posted on 03/25/2011 11:05:04 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: ThinkingBuddha

Look at the Khukri, not a great stabbing weapon, but with one vertical downward stroke you can literally split someone in half, a lateral stroke will produce the results spoken of here, decapatation. Wouldn’t make a half bad soccer ball. With the beheadings the muslims are doing, what do they have to complain about?


24 posted on 03/25/2011 11:14:27 AM PDT by TEXASPROUD
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To: jagusafr

Some people send in box tops to claim their prize while Ghurkas send in heads!


25 posted on 03/25/2011 11:18:46 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: ThinkingBuddha

“No good deed goes unpunished”..


26 posted on 03/25/2011 11:22:05 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: ThinkingBuddha

Sorry. Don’t see the problem.

Just put the thing on a stick for all to see and move one.


27 posted on 03/25/2011 11:22:30 AM PDT by Vendome ("Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it anyway")
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To: ThinkingBuddha

Next best thing to severing his manhood. Promote that man!


28 posted on 03/25/2011 11:57:54 AM PDT by paulcissa (The first requirement of Liberalism is to stand on your head and tell the world they're upside down)
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To: ThinkingBuddha
So, an unnamed soldier drew his kukri - the standard-issue Gurkha knife

A Gurkha with kukri is anything but unarmed.
29 posted on 03/25/2011 12:01:51 PM PDT by GonzoGOP (There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
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To: ThinkingBuddha

I see nothing wrong with taking the head. The guy had apparently never made much use of it and wasnt using it at all when it was taken


30 posted on 03/25/2011 12:14:48 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Obama. Chauncey Gardiner without the homburg.)
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To: hoosierham
Put him in charge of the whole operation.

Best comment on this entire thread. With more men like him in charge, this entire affair would be over in a much shorter period of time.

31 posted on 03/25/2011 12:31:01 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: g'nad; Ramius; 300winmag

Ping - The kuhkri, very handy to have around the house or the campsite.


32 posted on 03/25/2011 12:31:45 PM PDT by osagebowman
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To: Jack Hydrazine; archy

>>>‘There is no sense of glory involved, more a sense of shame. He should not have done what he did.’

At least in the days of the Imperium, the British Raj appreciated the dedication, enthusiasm and efficency of the Gurkhas.

Now, some wanker of a desk poofter lithps indignantly.

How else was he going to verify he had the target. There’s not much of fingerprint database there.

Suppose he shoulda clicked a picture, but then he’d be subject to some other charge as well.


33 posted on 03/25/2011 12:37:34 PM PDT by swarthyguy (KIDS! Deficit, Debt,Taxes! Pfft Lookit the bright side of our legacy -America is almost SmokFrei!)
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To: JRios1968

Do you know where he gets them?


34 posted on 03/25/2011 1:01:45 PM PDT by magslinger (What Would Stephen Decatur Do?)
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To: magslinger

badass-pajamas.com?


35 posted on 03/25/2011 1:08:42 PM PDT by JRios1968 (Laz would hit it!)
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To: magslinger; JRios1968

http://shop.cafepress.com/gurkha-regiment


36 posted on 03/25/2011 1:08:53 PM PDT by magslinger (What Would Stephen Decatur Do?)
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To: ThinkingBuddha

If they were told they needed to have confirmation they got him, if they can’t lug the whole body out, well...?

I would have commended the guy for quick thinking but rescinded the standing order for confirmation, because you can’t have that sh1t piling up at headquarters.


37 posted on 03/25/2011 1:12:27 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
I would have commended the guy for quick thinking but rescinded the standing order for confirmation, because you can’t have that sh1t piling up at headquarters.

Surely someone would have a pile of pig manure they could store them in.

38 posted on 03/25/2011 1:21:05 PM PDT by magslinger (What Would Stephen Decatur Do?)
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To: ThinkingBuddha

I’d be willing to bet that, if in the next firefight, the Afghan’s realize they’re fighting the Ghurka’s, they’ll run like hell. That is awesome.


39 posted on 03/25/2011 1:54:45 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: ThinkingBuddha
No one familiar with the history of the Gurkhas should be surprised by this soldier's straightforward method of dealing with the situation.

As the Gurkha veteran in the comments to the story put it:

It is heartening to see that the majority of the ordinary British public are sympathetic to this young Gurkha soldier who was only carrying out his superior's order, I would do the same if I was in his place because when I joined in 1969, I swore allegiance to the British Crown and country and that meant obeying orders without question. Shame on the MOD and the Government for the action they are taking against him! Like someone before mentioned, "what is all the fuss about?" If this is offensive to the Muslims of Afghanistan then what the hell are they doing being involved in war knowing that people get killed, mutilated, decapitated etc., if they wish to be buried in one piece, I would say to them turn to peace and respect others rights not to be maimed or have limbs blown off because it goes both ways. I also find it very offensive to see my British and Gurkha comrades losing their lives and limbs through barbaric acts by the cowardly Talibans.

- Swaroop - an old Gurkha Veteran, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, 20/7/2010 9:48

(My emphasis added.)

40 posted on 03/25/2011 4:00:07 PM PDT by snowsislander
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