Taliban launch frontal attack on base---Darwin Award Nominees 2008

yahoo ^ | 7 August 2007 | trueblackman

[Red Badger]

There should be a Special Recognition Darwin Award for these guys............

[Red Badger]

75 dead? Well, we don’t know the number of their wounded who died later. And the # whose injuries are so serious as to preclude them from any further fighting.......

[ASA Vet]

while being simultaneously decimated in the process

Decimated would have been 7.5 of the attackers. More than 20 dead is a heck of a lot better than decimated. Too bad it wasn't 100%.

[bill1952]

What they were doing is reading the MSM press releases.

Reading such tripe would make anyone believe that our military is completely incompetent and that our operations are all military failures, but reality is an unforgiving teacher...

[ops33]

Decimation in the Roman legions was usually reserved for those legions that mutinied. The soldiers would be separated into their groups of ten, each man having a number from 1 to 10. By lot, a number from 1 to 10 would be called out and every man with that number in each group of 10 would be killed. But those not called would still not be entirely spared. It was the job of the other nine to beat the 10th man to death. Since the groups of 10, called decades, were similar to modern squads, the nine would be beating to death one of their comrades and friend.

[rabscuttle385]

Hey now, don't insult the cavemen by comparing them to al-Qaeda terrorists!

[GulfBreeze]

You have inverted it.

Decimate literally means killing 9 out of 10 or cutting the opposing force down to 1/10 of the size.

But in general it is a euphamism any route but especially any route where the force is destruyed to ranks level and requires a total rebuild.

[Mr. Lucky]

This proves that this year’s opium crop was really primo.

[stm]

Human wave mass suicide, so easy the Taliban can do it

[stm]

Or fighting amongst themselves as to who they were going to kill. “He’s mine!” “No he’s not, I saw him first, he’s mine!”

[GulfBreeze]

Sorry you are right on the original meaning.

The euphamistic use still stands though...

[econjack]

Actually, decimated means killing one out of ten.

You're the first person I've ever seen who got this right. The Latin derivation is obvious, but most people misuse the word, often used instead to mean total destruction.

[LeoWindhorse]

“t militant prisoners must be released in exchange for the lives of South Korean hostages or there will be a “bad result.”

We need to announce that if they massacre the Korean hostages
EVERY Taliban prisoner now being held in ALL facilities will be taken out and executed . That will settle the prisoner exchange question and send the correct message for the future.
The taliban are relying on our perceived humanitarian ‘weaknesses’ They have no such impediments.

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

"The inability of the insurgent forces to inflict any severe damage on Firebase Anaconda, while being simultaneously decimated in the process, should be a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of their fighters," said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman.

**snicker**

[ishabibble]

Or: “After you, I already bagged my limit.”

[econjack]

Decimate literally means killing 9 out of 10 or cutting the opposing force down to 1/10 of the size.

I don't think so. The dictionary says:

"to select by lot and kill every tenth one of"

This is in agreement with ops33's post #25.

[ichabod1]

Git some! Get some!

[rockthecasbah]

“The inability of the insurgent forces to inflict any severe damage on Firebase Anaconda, while being simultaneously decimated in the process, should be a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of their fighters,” said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman

Now that is calculated - a broadcasted emasculation of male Muslim fighters by an invading infidel woman - that has got to drive those gihadists into a rage

[reagan_fanatic]

[PhilDragoo]

That's how my Latin teacher taught it:

Decimation - Perhaps the most gruesome punishment of all known to the Roman army was that of decimation. It generally was applied to entire cohorts and meant that every tenth man, randomly chosen by a draw of lots, was killed by being clubbed or stoned to death by his own comrades. This form of punishment of the troops was however extremely rare.