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| Afghanistan |
| U.S. donates vehicles, arms to Afghan army |
| 2007-02-01 |
| Posted by:ed |
| #5 seems anecdotal, Greg, give me something with a technical background! /I'm a pedantic idiot :-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-01 21:39 |
| #4 Camel spiders are actually Solifugae, otherwise known as whip scoprions or sun spiders. We already have 'em in the southwest and Mexico. They're generally not poisonous and get to maybe 6" in length in the larger varieties. From Wikipedia: Solifugae are carnivorous or omnivorous, with most species feeding on termites, darkling beetles, and other small arthropods; however, solifugae have been videotaped consuming larger prey such as lizards [1]. Prey is located with the pedipalps and killed and cut into pieces by the chelicerae. The prey is then liquefied and the liquid ingested through the pharynx. While the absence of venom in Solifugae is a long-established fact, there is a single published study of one species, Rhagodes nigrocinctus, carried out in India in 1978 by a pair of researchers who did histological preparations of the chelicerae, and found what they believed to be epidermal glands (Aruchami & Sandara Rajulu 1978). Extracts from these glands were then injected into lizards, where it induced paralysis in 7 of 10 tests. While this study has never been confirmed, and while other researchers have been unable to locate similar glands in other species, this particular species does appear to possess venom, although it is not known if there is any mechanism for introducing it into prey (recall that the researchers manually injected it into lizards). Accordingly, for the time being, we must at least acknowledge the possibility that some Solifugae are venomous. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-02-01 20:17 |
| #3 Think how the environmentalists would howl if a couple of camel spiders snuck over in the shipment, and wiped out the native North American tree frog population or something.* *Granted, camel spiders are native to Iraq, not Afghanistan, and as far as I'm aware our tree frogs are still doing ok, but the point still holds. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-01 17:09 |
| #2 Most of the handed over equipment was already in-country : the article discussed "freshly-painted vehicles", in other words, slap a coat of paint on it and hand it over. As units rotate in and out, and equipment gets used, it is generally cheaper to leave it in place than clean it and ship it home. Plus, if it is done right, units unload all of their older equipment and get that replaced with new production. And the Afghanis get a lot of vehicles and equipment that they would not otherwise have. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2007-02-01 15:16 |
| #1 Does this strike anybody else as a bit wierd? I mean here we have the WH in a battle with Congress for $$ for our troops and then we give a whole boatload of stuff to the Afghans; I question their sincerity, since they are still letting the paks consume oxygen. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-02-01 14:22 |