Friday, August 01, 2008
There is an article in today's WSJ (page 1) about suicide bombing in the war in Afghanistan, containing this nugget:
But I think this is more a statement about how effective our military is. During the Soviet invasion, they didn't have to blow themselves up, because they were fighting a demoralized conscript army with mediocre equipment and tactics. And they had CIA backing.
Today they are facing well trained and highly motivated special forces soldiers who are one radio call away from having an A-10 Warthog pour down depleted uranium shells on an enemy. Suicide bombing and IEDs are their only options now, so it's no surpise they are way up.
"Suicide attacks were virtually unheard of in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. That started to change after the U.S.-led occupation in 2001."Perhaps my inference mechanism has gone haywire, and they never outright state it, but it seems they are implying that there is something about our country and our prosecution of the war that enrages people enough to blow themselves up. That we are somehow worse than the Soviet invasion.
But I think this is more a statement about how effective our military is. During the Soviet invasion, they didn't have to blow themselves up, because they were fighting a demoralized conscript army with mediocre equipment and tactics. And they had CIA backing.
Today they are facing well trained and highly motivated special forces soldiers who are one radio call away from having an A-10 Warthog pour down depleted uranium shells on an enemy. Suicide bombing and IEDs are their only options now, so it's no surpise they are way up.
