33minutes ago(Associated Press)>Obamas 1st major mistake!Obama 0-Mermaid 1

I too saw 'Iran and the West'...great true life tv!!!


I also saw here in the UK on tv over past few weeks the documentary called 'Iran and the West',it was very worthwhile watching,id advise anyone to google it ,im sure it was bbc1 or channel4 but the tvlinks sites:icon_wink: will be uning it no doubt...


I also agree and said on the forum a while back that pres obama is being inaugurated at the worst possible time in living memory,i said he would need to hit the gound running,aint no 7 month george bush jnr type holidays to play golf for obama,hes been throwen in at the deep end but hes the one that assured us his age /experience wouldnbt be a problem as he would surround himself with the best veterans of the party which to a extent he has bu that was to be expcted,they were all prolly pre chosn for obama from the minute he won the electin


He did great shutting down guantanamo bay as his 1st major exec desicion but i just think his withdrawal plan is flawed,we MUST leave iraq and some sort of stable shape and as for afghanistan we should be pouring in more troops in there,look where it sits on the world map,it has the potential if they were armed and at war to invade Iran and other oil rich nations,they could even becme popular like hamas did winning elections in Gaza,,i just thik we got unfinsihed business n helmand province,we said we were gonna smoke em out and i wanna se smoke,hell even send in some ferrets my mates got to flush them out,we gota catch osama bin aden before we leave thsat region....soz for type erors im stoned to fuck and its 06:21am..im outta here:cya:

 

Im glad you UNDERSTAND the method to my madness..


nc i appreciate the comments and im glad you like most other GKers know that my posts,albeit mostly too long,they are not generic copy and pastes with no PERSONAL OPINIONS,i dont follow the herd although im ALWAYS OPEN TO HEARING OTHERS NEW IDEAS,OPINIONS,ETC AND IM OPEN TO CHANGING MY MIND ON SUBJECTS IF I REASSESS WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE RIGHT BASED ON ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW.I never assume that ANY person who posts on here ,if i agree with them or not,are stupid or dont know what they are talking about cos you can not KNOW a person merely by stuff he types while stoned...


i am totally organic in my writings,meaning i dont start a post with a structure in mind or even my key points,i just respond to what i see others writing or my feelings on the topics at hand,i start typing spliff in my mouth and i only stop when i realise im digressing far away from the topic,my writings are purely based from my own learnings and memories unless i post an article i feel others would enjoy.Im glad you see this mc,much of my rep iv recieved is for not being afraid to speak out on what i feel in politics so i know that my posts may be too long but i do have ppl out there who read them even if they dont agree with them cos they know it comes from the heart and not from someone else blog or some shit.


I type from genuine memory and dont sit with another window open with all the answers hence i may get the odd answer wrong like MK GUY pointed out about me saying Helmand was bigger than france,i meant to say AFGHANISTAN was a region not far smalle ror bigger than France and that HELMAND PROVINCE is BIGGER than the whole country i live in which it is easily,i mean come on man,in northern Ireland during the 'troubles'(i see today that the 'real IRA killed to UK soldiers in belfast:sad4::icon_salut the remote regions like south armagh were far harder to deal with than the hustle and bustle of the city of BEFLAST,in fact on average going from memory im pretty sure that it worked out that out of every patrol on a tour of duty in south armagh(BANDIT/SNIPER COUNTRY) and other remote border regions between the UK and the republic of Eire,one guy in every patrol would end up dead before their tour of duty if it was in south armaagh,hell even the S.A.S were knee deep in shit for years in an area no where near the size of helmand and with no complex cave systems thousands of years old,these are smugglers caves and hiding caves built back in the middle ages or earlier man!


MK GUY:eusa_naughty:Please dont tell me i dont know shit about HELMAND PROVINCE respecftfully 'MK GUY' cos i have ppl i know and care about out there in Helmand and believe me ,the UK have concentrated ALL their special forces and elite divisions to that area,while America was concentrating on Iraq,the UK forces were concentrating on the afghanistan front,we have been there alongside america from day one and we spend a vast amount per capita per person considering we are a small nation not even as big as California OR MANY OTHER usa STATES,i know plenty about Helmand but i cant and wont type it cos its stuff my mates tell me when we go drinking when they return from their tour of duty before returning again,i could rant about how they dont have enough decent equipment ,ESPECIALLY the territorials(reservists) them guys didnt even have helmets which resulted in a few deaths.You dont know me MK GUY same as i would never tell you how you dont know shi9t about something cos all i know about you is what you type on growkind and i tend to just spark up a spliff read a thread and reply thinking as i typpe so sometimes i digress a bit,sometimes i dont quite get my point across but i aint some 30year old who gets his news from the internet daily,i read books,i love history and i keep abreast of as much of the worlds politics as i can


:bongin: ....at least im bold enough to put my self 'out there' for ppl to critisice me for my opinions rather than having none or by just following the herd.Think Twice before you ASSUME someone knows jack shit about a subject cos we all know when peeps ASS-U-ME it makes an ASS- out of -U -not ME:icon_wink:

 

and this just in from my news source YAHOO NEWS,lol...


Back to the original disagreement i have with both the UK and the USA withdrawals,i UNDERSTAND the NEED to get out and leave them to sort it out but we MUST leave them in a better way than we found them,as it is we will be leaving them with the pack of wolves that ios Iran and Hezbollah at their doors aswell as the fact the new model Iraqi police force and army is totally corrupt,at night they use govt trucks to go and attack sunni muslims and vice versa all while wearing police and army uniforms:angry7:... i agree Iraq is our modern day korea and we should never have been there but we gotta ensure that at least the UN and the arab league like Egypt and other arab states will have peace keeping forces to stop corruption and increase border controls and enforce them too.IF ONLY WE OFFERED THE HALF A MILLION UNEMPLOYED/DISENFRANCHISED IRAQI REPUBLICAN GUARD THEIR ARMY JOBS AND PENSIONS BACK THEN MAYBE PEACE COULD BE RESTORED NATURALLY WITHOUT OUR PRESENCE THEIR


As for afghanistan,the UK have made it clear theres NO WAY WE CAN LEAVE... the tribal region that covers the pakistan and afghan border is the route to the caves in the mountains that both the taliban and al quaida use to launch their mortar attacks,etc on UK and US forces,an all out offensive MUST be taken before we even THINK about leaving Helmand and other areas of afghansitan,the south is full of taliban taking control of tribal areas bit by bit,even Kabul the capital has suicide bombings going of regulalrly.When we leave Iraq and/or afghanistan we will be leaving a huge huge vacum that our enemies will totally exploit and yet again we will leave our native friends over there exposed to be killed for aiding and abetting us 'infidels'....i dont think that shits cool...fair enough we NEED to withdraw but SURELY WE CAN DO IT IN SUCH A WAY THAT WE LEAVE THE NATIONS SECURE AND FIRMLY UNDER GOVT CONTROLPeaceotleaf:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090309/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq


US says 12,000 troops to leave Iraq by September


BAGHDAD – About 12,000 U.S. soldiers will leave Iraq by September, officials said, hours after a Baghdad suicide bomber killed about 30 people in a chilling reminder of the nation's still-shaky security.


The withdrawals, which will most likely come from Baghdad province, once main battlefields of the war, are the first step in keeping with President Barack Obama's pledge to end America's role in the war.


That would bring U.S. troop levels to more than 120,000 — still a substantial force. As part of the drawdown, the U.S. will turn over 74 facilities and areas under its control to the Iraqis by the end of March.


All 4,000 British soldiers remaining in Iraq are also scheduled to leave by September.


A U.S. spokesman, Maj. Gen. David Perkins, said Iraq's security has "greatly improved, moving from a very unstable to a stable position." He said violence was at its lowest level since the summer of 2003.


Sunday's attack was the worst in Baghdad in months, injuring about 60 people beyond the dozens killed. But in a news conference hours later, Perkins described it as a sign that U.S.-led coalition forces have militants on the run.


"We know that al-Qaida, although greatly reduced in capability and numbers, still is desperate to maintain relevance here in Iraq," Perkins said.


The suicide bomber detonated his explosives as he drove his motorcycle into a group of people, many of them police recruits, waiting near a side entrance of Baghdad's main police academy in a mainly Shiite area of the city.


The heavily fortified academy has been hit by several bombings. A Dec. 1 suicide bombing there killed at least 33 and wounded dozens, including four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi general.


Iraqi and U.S. forces sealed off the scene Sunday, allowing only ambulances and fire engines to enter. Nervous Iraqi troops fired in the air to prevent onlookers and reporters from getting too close.


Haitham Fadhel said he was standing in one of three lines of recruits arriving for their first day of special guard training courses. He was knocked unconscious and wounded by shrapnel, but called himself lucky. Two friends were killed.


"We were feeling secure as we were waiting in a well-guarded area," said Fadhel, 24. "Before the explosion occurred I heard a loud shout saying, 'Stop, stop, where are you going?' Seconds later, a huge explosion shook the area."


He added, "I am just wondering how a big security breach can occur in such a secured area."


No group claimed responsibility for the blast, but suicide bombings are the signature attack of Sunni religious extremists, including al-Qaida.


Iraqi officials provided conflicting casualty tolls, as is common in the chaotic aftermath of bombings.


Three medical officials and one police officer in the area said 32 were killed, including 19 recruits, nine policemen and four traffic police, with about 60 others wounded.


An Interior Ministry official said the death toll was 28 and 57 were wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.


Extremists increasingly have targeted Iraqi forces as they take over the country's security so American troops can go home. Last week, President Obama announced the end of all combat missions in Iraq by the end of August 2010, leaving up to 50,000 U.S. soldiers to train and assist ]raqi security forces All U.S. troops are to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.


Currently there are about 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and their withdrawal will be gradual at first to leave most in place for parliamentary elections at the end of this year. The 12,000 troops, which make up two of 14 combat brigades in Iraq, will not be replaced.


Still, troop levels in Iraq are more than double what the Obama administration is sending to Afghanistan, where as many as 55,000 soldiers will be stationed by this summer.


In an interview Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki predicted the U.S. withdrawal would be "responsible" and said Iraqi military and police still need weapons "in order to protect the internal security situation in the first place."


"We, the Iraqigovernmentfeel that the Iraqi security forces are capable of filling any vacuum created by he withdrawal of the U.S. forces," Maliki told Iraqi government television. At the news conference, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraqi security forces should be able to secure the country by the end of 2011.

 

MK GUY..that part wasnt aimed at you amigo,only the yellow highlighted part.Peace man

MK GUY,sorry for the misunderstanding,it seems theres been a little 'lost in translation' here,sometimes symantics are lost on forums...The ONLY part of my post which i directly referred to you was the large yellow highlighted part that said or asked you respectfully to 'not assume i dont know shit about helman',i have no doubt you have 'boots on the ground experience' and more power to ya depending on your viewpoint i guess but just to clarify when i referred to ppl who sit and get their info via the internet i wasnt meaning you,i was agreeing with NCMAINAC on his comment about how ppl sometimes just blow smoke out there ass on these topics and only know what the mainstream media tell them,etc...I am respectful enough to never assume someone dont know shit,all i meant to you was,please dont say i dont know what im talking about as i do have a more than average (non military guy)guy knowledge of this situation....


However if you read my posts you'll see that i too agree that helmand is just ONE of many dangerous border regions in afghanistan,for instance in the south not long ago they had a mass prison break out and it took our boys days of combat to combat fighting to kill and quell the rebellion so we are agreed on that one,i only worry about helmand province cos they have many weapons caches there and more mortar atacks are laucnhed from there against UK troops than from anywhere else... AGAIN,i wasnt referring to you when i made that comment though i can see how you might have came to that conclusion.I just think afghanistan is gonna be a major pain in the ass for years to come and even worse if the allies aint there thats all.


Didnt mean to offend by accident.Im sure you know the areas in the south i refer to and im sure you know how hard it is to fight your enemy from lower ground in these cave complexes,etc.But no,i wasnt meaning you,just talkin in general about ppl who have no opinion except that of yahoo,'faux news' and CNN,etc ... Apologies if you took any offence mate.Al i ask is that you give me a lil credit for not being ignorant of world events,i dont claim to have the answers but i sure can see the worst case scenarios that can happen if we dont deal with this issue in the right manner.Peace

 

For those who dont know ,heres a brief lowdown on the worst areas in the south,etc..


All this talk of helmand mae me actually ponder the question,just what province really is the most dangerous,i guess it depends on what nation your soldiers are from and where they are fighting,the majority of scottish soldiers i know who have been out there a few times all say HELMAND but it turns out it only ranks 3rd on the list but thats still a deadly region going by the death rates and casualties to BOTH contract civilians and army personal,not to mention the special forces like our S.A.S that we dont hear about,etc.Heres the lowdown.AS I STATED EARLIER,ITS THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES THAT ARE CAUSING OUR TROOPS THE MOST PROBLEMS LIKE KANDAHAR,etc.Peaceotleaf:

Maybe what i should have said is that HELMAND for a FACT is afghanistans "MOST HEAVILY INFESTED MILITANT REGION" but that would be me just quoting 'NBC' rather than going from friends tales and 'PROPER' news outlets like from journalists embedded with the royal scots battalion who have lived and breathed with the troops for 2 years running now,i watched some of their footage of 24hours driving through HELMAND,pretty intense place,heres the link> http://www.truveo.com/Driving-in-Afghanistan-The-Most-Dangerous-Job-of/id/195258256 .Peace to all our country men out there fighting to keep the war THERE and NOT in our NATIONS:icon_salut: (Special shoutout to the Royal Scots Battalion and the fierce Gurkhas attached to the UK army from nepal going back many years:notworthyPeace:bongin:

 

Oh i totally agree on that post daze,as i do many of your posts and rants..


Ah Daze your preaching to the converted on the Kashmir region issue my friend:thumbsup: Yes if Pakistan and India werent involved in a war over that small strategic bit of land aswell as their hostilities in their nuclear arms race for sure made it a whole lot easier for the tribal areas to become lawless regions and that definetly spilled into an already mil;itant and islamist extremist regimes terrotory,i agree wholeheartedly...


....the irony of the fact that the UK and the USA armed the taliban aswell as Osamas,back then caled,Muhjihadeen army fighting russia then maybe they wouldnt even have gotten this far,also i think that when two amrican embassies in africa were bombed with devastating efects aswell as the first failed attempt at destroying the wtc's in the clinton administration was the time to make a pre emptive strike cos they sure had the chance to do it and decided not to,oh how i wish bill clinton could go back and use hindsight to change his foresight on that decision NOT to kill osama when they had a clear chance:eusa_doh:


I watched a history or discovery documentary on all this and it revealed that US army chiefs after the kenyan embassy bomobing advised Clinton that the war would soon come to america if osama wasnt stopped so clinton had round the clock satellite GPS aimed on osama and his training camps,the call came in they had a clear shot that would have taken out the WHOLE of what was to become Al-Quieda and Clinton refused to go through with it cos outside one of the tents there were one maybe two kids playing and he didnt want the media headlines round the world calling amrica child killers....yet how many american kids are now without parents fter 9/11:angry7:...all this could have been averted if they had just dropped the cluster,the jets were primed and in the air ready to srike when the latest satellite imagery came in showing two kids outside the tent... now i aint down for killing kids no mattter what race or religion....but if thats the way we gonna fight them then thats like fighting a boxer except you got one hand tied behind your back cos they will mak sure they have kids living at every training camp if they think thats what stops the west from destroying them,i couldnt believe that shit when i watched it i really couldnt,and just to top it off that was the last clear chance the CIA had of a clear cut strike in the desert against Osama,hes now undergroun of course,in both senses of the wors.


Daze,i live and learn daily and i agree with most of your political rants even ones for or against my beliefs,lol,the kasmir issue you stated is entirely true and now as pakistan hits recession and needs an IMF bail out the country could end up being a haven for rich terorists and talibanists who see pakistan as a much bigger prize than regaining afghanistan although if they ever got control of any more of pakistan than they already do then its fair to say they will easily recaptur afganistan...and that means they got nukes This regionm to me is every bit if not more perilous than the middle east right now with regards to the sheer potential of pakistan unravelling in front of our eyes nd extremists taking over,then when the taliban or retake afghansitan after the withdrawals you'll see pakistan and afghanistan able to manipulate gas/oil prices by attacking smaller northern neighbours with pipelines and oil fields running through them asell as the fact the taliban HATE Iran and the worst parts of the taliban are practically living on Irans borders.I know i always say it but the shits really gonna hit the fan in that region if we just up camp and leave..


I accept fully we cant be the world police and sadly team america is just a cool movie and not a real force for good so whats the alternatives,i dont have the answers dze,just opiions tht i form daily or ones iv ha for years but im ALWAYS willing to listen and leanr from my peers on matters like this and others we discuss,thats why i love politics so much cos i DONT know it all ,i wanna so i come nd read diverse posts and LEARN from other ppls perspectives.But back on topic daze your correct regarding Kasmir and i enjoyed your rants BTW:icon_wink:.Peace