[continued from previous message] 
  
 Harriers in support when [companies] on the ground have been in heavy 
 contact, on one occasion trying to break clean. A female Harrier 
 pilot 'couldn't identify the target', fired two phosphorous rockets 
 that just missed our own compound so that we thought they were 
 incoming RPGs, and then strafed our perimeter, missing the enemy by 
 200 metres." In contrast, he said, the US air force was "fantastic". 
  
 General Dannatt said Major Loden's comments were "irresponsible" and 
 defended the RAF, which also drew more favourable comments from the 
 Canadian officer. Describing another clash during his time with 3 
 Para, he wrote: "The company quickly came under attack from what was 
 estimated as 100+ fighters. For about 15 minutes we lost 
 communications with the company commander and a whole section of 
 infantry as they were basically overrun. The section had last been 
 seen going into a ditch that was subsequently hit with a volley of 
 about 15 RPGs; I thought we had lost them all. I had Brit Apaches 
 check in and they did an absolutely brilliant job at repelling the 
 enemy." 
  
 Although senior commanders have dismissed some of the criticisms from 
 serving soldiers as partial, and a "snapshot", the MoD said last 
 night: "Incredible efforts are being made to ensure that front-line 
 soldiers are given the best possible support in every way. The tough 
 realities of combat will inevitably create friction about particular 
 incidents, but each individual is doing their very best in the most 
 challenging of circumstances. 
  
 "The MoD welcomes these gritty, hard-hitting reports, which portray 
 the reality of difficult work on the front line. The 3 Para 
 battlegroup has performed magnificently in extremely difficult 
 circumstances. Alongside the Afghan National Army, they have stood up 
 to the Taliban, who offer nothing to the Afghan people. We salute 
 them." 
  
 At least two officers have quit as a result of their experiences in 
 Helmand. The only one to be named was Captain Leo Docherty, 
 aide-de-camp to Colonel Charlie Knaggs, the operational commander in 
 the province. Calling the campaign "a textbook case of how to screw 
 up a counter-insurgency", he told The Sunday Times: "We've been 
 grotesquely clumsy - we've said we'll be different to the Americans 
 who were bombing and strafing villages, then behaved exactly like 
 them." 
  
 Yet another leaked email from a front-line officer endorsed this, 
 saying: "We are not having an effect on the average Afghan. We are no 
 better than the Taliban in their eyes, as all they can see is us 
 moving into an area, blowing things up and leaving, which is very 
 sad." 
  
 The British contingent in Helmand learned the brutal lesson some time 
 ago that what was a reconstruction mission has turned into a war. 
 Judging from comments on internet message boards, such as the British 
 Army Rumour Service, that message is getting through to soldiers' 
 families and the public back home. 
  
  
                                 * 
 ================================================================ 
  NY Transfer News Collective    *    A Service of Blythe Systems 
            Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 
  Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html 
  List Archives:   http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ 
  Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr 
 ================================================================ 
  
 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- 
 Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (FreeBSD) 
  
 iD8DBQFFIqWhiz2i76ou9wQRAiYJAJ45XegXpyqYDW3wAU8dZEu5H6v+IgCfZuq9 
 WohHzckBXBY9FoRHfUKon2A= 
 =t5sG 
 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)