Posted on 12/10/2013 12:29:57 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
The Afghan Taliban recently claimed that the US' reliance on drone strikes to target Taliban leaders masks the decline of American power in the world and the failure of its counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban also called the US a "paper tiger," the same phrase used by Osama Bin Laden to describe the American military when it withdrew from Somalia after the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993.
The Afghan Taliban made the statements in report titled "A reflection on the American Drone War Strategy," which was released on Nov. 25 on its website, Voice of Jihad. The report is a mix of propaganda and what purports to be Taliban views on the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and reliance on airpower to defeat the group.
In the report, the Taliban claim that the US switched to a strategy of "drone warfare" after conventional warfare and then counterinsurgency operations "failed to defeat the Afghans." The Taliban also accuse the Obama administration of ramping up the use of drones to cover its withdrawal from Afghanistan after 12 years of war.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------snip----------------
A study by The Long War Journal of the US' use of drones against al Qaeda and allied groups in North and South Waziristan shows that civilians appear to constitute a small percentage of those killed. While it is difficult to assess the number of civilians killed in Pakistan's tribal areas due to Taliban control, Pakistani press reports indicate the number is low.
Additionally, civilian attitudes toward the US drone campaign are not as uniformly critical as the Taliban and al Qaeda would have you believe. There are credible reports that civilians who suffer under Taliban rule are supportive of the targeting of terrorist leaders and fighters. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at longwarjournal.org ...
Careful boys. Barry will claw your eyes out.
Whatever. Hey, what's that coming through the windo.....
or only give you half the billions he already has...
We’ll be tissue paper by the time this bastard’s through with us. And don’t count on the so-called conservatives in the House to do a damned thing about it.
Well, actually, the drone strikes are probably the only thing Obama is doing on the terror war front that ISN’T a paper tiger. He’s caved everywhere else—except when he fought on the wrong side in Libya.
Obama is joined at the hip with BP. The cronyism goes back before the Gulf oil spill. BP lobbied 24/7 for U.S. and UK intervention in Libya. The rebels offered BP and others a better oil deal if Qaddafi could be toppled.
From Wikipedia:
[Sylvia V. Baca is a former employee of BP Oil [1] that was appointed by Barack Obama’s Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on June 18, 2009 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. Ms. Baca was the general manager for Social Investment Programs and Strategic Partnerships at BP America Inc. As part of her duties at the Department of Interior she oversees the Bureau of Land Management and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.]
Ya, a used piece of toilet paper...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.