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Afghanistan
Witness: Taliban dead may be civilians
2006-08-24
Nato's claims to have killed 11 Taliban who were preparing an ambush in Afghanistan have been disputed by local people who have said that the dead were civilian grape-pickers.
"Yes! We are simple, but well-armed grape pickers!"
The Nato-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan said its troops spotted 15 Taliban near a main road in Kandahar late on Tuesday. After realising they had been detected, the men then moved to a nearby compound which Nato aircraft then bombed, said Major Scott Lundy, a Nato spokesman. Lundy said: "11 Taliban were killed in the air strike, while two insurgents were later seen leaving the compound."
"Culy-toed slippers, don't fail us now!"
But civilians in the Zhari area to the west of Kandahar city, said the dead were farmers who had been working in their grape fields in the cool of the evening. "Those people who died in the bombing were civilians," Ahmad Shapour, a resident of the area, said by telephone.
"Really."
The killing of Afghan civilians by Nato troops threatens to weaken popular support for the US-backed government of Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, in his war against the Taliban.
That's what it's supposed to do, isn't it?
Posted by:Fred

#14  Lancasters Over Dresden, I object to using the term "civilization" in the same paragraph and context with Talibunny, Hezbos, and Qaeda-creeps, etc. Thx!
Posted by: twobyfour   2006-08-24 17:22  

#13  Last night on "CNN Presents," there was documentary footage showing Binny's evolving position on the killing of American innocents.

He started out by insisting that American civies were not the intended target but that Al-Qaeda could not guarantee their safety in the Mid-East.

Years later, Binny Boy changed his tune and insisted that there was no such thing as innocent Americans.

Now he calls for 10 million American dead to settle the score.

Okay jerk, since no American innocents exist, we're returning the favor in the same coin, only a bigger and much heavier coin.

Remember this Talibunny, Hezbos, and Qaeda-creeps: You can pester us, annoy and occasionally disrupt our travel plans and such. We on the other hand are capable of ending your civilization in a 30-minute span on a given day.

A pair of Tridents can do the job.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden   2006-08-24 12:19  

#12  Grape Pickers eh?

Then they must have been hit with grapeshot right?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2006-08-24 11:53  

#11  "Grape pickers"?
Add it to the list...
Posted by: tu3031   2006-08-24 11:44  

#10  Thank you, GolfBravoUSMC. I sit corrected. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-08-24 11:38  

#9  they're picking white grapes now....
Posted by: Frank G   2006-08-24 11:21  

#8  Al Jazeera claims to be the only politically independent television station in the Middle East. It now rivals the BBC in worldwide audiences with an estimated 50 million viewers. Al Jazeera was started with a US$150 million grant from the emir of Qatar. It aimed to become self-sufficient through advertising by 2001, but when this failed to occur, the emir agreed to continue subsidizing it on a year-by-year basis (US$30 million in 2004,[1] according to Arnaud de Borchgrave). Other major sources of income include advertising, cable subscription fees, broadcasting deals with other companies, and sale of footage (according to Pravda,[2] "Al Jazeera received $20,000 per minute for Bin Laden's speech".) In 2000, advertising accounted for 40% of the station's revenue.[3]

The channel began broadcasting in late 1996. In April of that year, BBC World Service's Arabic language TV station, faced with censorship demands by the Saudi Arabian government, had shut down after two years of operation. Many former BBC World Service staff members joined Al Jazeera.

In the beginning, Al Jazeera tried to increase its viewership by means of presenting controversial views regarding the governments of many Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar; Syria's relationship with Lebanon; and the Egyptian judiciary. Its well-presented documentary on the Lebanese Civil War in 2000-2001 gave its viewer ratings a boost. However, it wasn't until late 2001 that Al Jazeera achieved worldwide popularity when it broadcast video statements by al-Qaeda leaders.

In response to Al Jazeera, a group of Saudi investors created Al Arabiya in the first quarter of 2003.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC   2006-08-24 11:19  

#7  7. TW

If I understand correctly Al Jizz was started with the backing of the govt of Qatar. The connection with the BBC, IIUC (and Im really foggy about this) is that a lot of the journalists came from the BBC Arabic service - just looking for better opportunities at a startup.

Ive never heard that BBC spun off anything.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-08-24 09:46  

#6  "Oh, but moose-limb words must be taken as of equivalent worth as anyone else's, as the multiculturalist leftard will insist."

If locals who I suspected of sympathy with an antigovernment terrorist force were claiming that folks NATO siad were fighters were really civilians, id be skeptical of the locals, whether said locals were muslims, Serbian Orthodox, Reconstructionist Jews, or Missouri Synod Lutherans.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-08-24 09:43  

#5  "What's that under your arm, Ahmed? Kinda looks like an RPG."

"Oh, no sir! This is a portable automatic vine dresser!"
Posted by: mcsegeek1   2006-08-24 09:22  

#4  Oh, but moose-limb words must be taken as of equivalent worth as anyone else's, as the multiculturalist leftard will insist.
Posted by: Duh!   2006-08-24 09:11  

#3  Al Jazeera gets extra points for having been spun off from the BBC a few years ago (I don't remember why the BBC decided to do that -- the local people getting a bit uppity, perhaps? Or cashing in on the spin-off craze?).
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-08-24 07:39  

#2  Ummm, I think in a world of loosers, Al Jizz is at the front of the pack. NYT and LAT get extra points for being fifth columnists, however.
Posted by: Bobby   2006-08-24 06:19  

#1  Lemme see. It's from al jiz...which is right up there with reuters, the NYT and the hezbollah daily news for integrity and truthfulness.
Posted by: anymouse   2006-08-24 01:39  

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