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Bill · 2004-05-24, 06:04 PM

Found this site off boingboing, this guy is a great fuckin read.

One of my many idle interests is milltary history, based on what I know of it, what War Nerd is saying is %100 right on target.

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on the deadliest weapon in Iraq, the RPG or Rocket Propelled Grenade

http://www.exile.ru/189/war_nerd.html

"US doctrine for countering the RPG always stressed looking for the flash when it's fired, and the blue-grey smoke trail it leaves. There are two problems with that, though. In the first place, unlike, say, the TOW, the RPG is unguided, so once it's launched, it doesn't do much good to kill the gunner. You're still going to get hit. Second, it's not easy to see the blast or the smoke trail in one of these Iraqi "urban canyons." Too many walls to hide behind.

"Our doctrine also used to stress laying down heavy fire in the general direction of the RPG launcher, to suppress further firings and hopefully kill the crew. But when you're fighting in the middle of an Iraqi city, that kind of general fire is going to kill a lot of hunkered-down civilians along with the RPG crew. And that doesn't look good on TV. More importantly, it makes you a lot of new enemies among the people whose cousins got shot.

"Even if the RPG doesn't disable a vehicle, the blast radius of the anti-armor round is four meters, which means anybody in the area is going to be seeing little birdies for a good few minutes, deaf from the blast, temporarily blind, not to mention very scared and pissed off. Once you've got the occupying troops in a position like that--I mean literally blind and deaf--you're in a guerrilla strategist's idea of Heaven. Troops in that mood tend to start firing blind, which makes everybody hate them even more, which suits the guerrilla right down to the ground.

-------------------
On Pakistan, the Taliban, and that crazy show last month when the Pakistanis claimed that had the Al Qaeda #2 guy trapped, only to admit later they had nothing.

http://www.exile.ru/187/war_nerd.html

"The Taliban was invented by Pakistani Lt. General Hamid Gul. "Gul"--nice name, huh? Sounds like "ghoul," and that suits him real well, believe me. Gul was head of the ISI from 1987-89, and handled Afghan intelligence till '92. These were the key years when the Talibs were getting off the ground. They still call Gul the "godfather of the Taliban." He told the Talibs how to organize. They were just a bunch of ignorant Pushtun mullahs and gunmen till Gul poured in the money, advisers, weapons and intelligence. Next thing you know the Taliban, which nobody even heard of before, controls 90% of Afghanistan. It was a classic division of labor: the Pushtun provided the courage and the cannon-fodder, Gul and the ISI supplied the street-smarts, and the CIA did what it does best: dropped off suitcases full of cash without asking too many questions about where it was going.

"A few years later, Gul got so crazy he turned into a liability for the CIA. For one thing, he said on the air that his friends in Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with 9/ll. His explanation was simple: the Israelis did it. That embarrassed his CIA pals so much they asked to interrogate Gul. The Pakis just laughed at that one. "Nobody interrogates the former head of the ISI, you silly Americans!" The ISI is above the law in Pakistan. They run the place, like the Mafia runs Sicily.

"The US backed down, naturally--we never got to interrogate Gul. No hard feelings, though--the US announced this week that Pakistan is not just our friend but a major American ally "on a par with NATO." Hey, you Norwegians and Brits, you must be flattered as Hell to find out we put you right up there with Pakistan, the sleaziest, most corrupt country in the world! Can we pick our friends or what?

2004-05-24, 06:04 PM	#1
Bill Selling porn allows me to stay in a constant state of Bliss - ain't that a trip! Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 3,914	My new favorite author, War Nerd Found this site off boingboing, this guy is a great fuckin read. One of my many idle interests is milltary history, based on what I know of it, what War Nerd is saying is %100 right on target. --------------------- on the deadliest weapon in Iraq, the RPG or Rocket Propelled Grenade http://www.exile.ru/189/war_nerd.html "US doctrine for countering the RPG always stressed looking for the flash when it's fired, and the blue-grey smoke trail it leaves. There are two problems with that, though. In the first place, unlike, say, the TOW, the RPG is unguided, so once it's launched, it doesn't do much good to kill the gunner. You're still going to get hit. Second, it's not easy to see the blast or the smoke trail in one of these Iraqi "urban canyons." Too many walls to hide behind. "Our doctrine also used to stress laying down heavy fire in the general direction of the RPG launcher, to suppress further firings and hopefully kill the crew. But when you're fighting in the middle of an Iraqi city, that kind of general fire is going to kill a lot of hunkered-down civilians along with the RPG crew. And that doesn't look good on TV. More importantly, it makes you a lot of new enemies among the people whose cousins got shot. "Even if the RPG doesn't disable a vehicle, the blast radius of the anti-armor round is four meters, which means anybody in the area is going to be seeing little birdies for a good few minutes, deaf from the blast, temporarily blind, not to mention very scared and pissed off. Once you've got the occupying troops in a position like that--I mean literally blind and deaf--you're in a guerrilla strategist's idea of Heaven. Troops in that mood tend to start firing blind, which makes everybody hate them even more, which suits the guerrilla right down to the ground. ------------------- On Pakistan, the Taliban, and that crazy show last month when the Pakistanis claimed that had the Al Qaeda #2 guy trapped, only to admit later they had nothing. http://www.exile.ru/187/war_nerd.html "The Taliban was invented by Pakistani Lt. General Hamid Gul. "Gul"--nice name, huh? Sounds like "ghoul," and that suits him real well, believe me. Gul was head of the ISI from 1987-89, and handled Afghan intelligence till '92. These were the key years when the Talibs were getting off the ground. They still call Gul the "godfather of the Taliban." He told the Talibs how to organize. They were just a bunch of ignorant Pushtun mullahs and gunmen till Gul poured in the money, advisers, weapons and intelligence. Next thing you know the Taliban, which nobody even heard of before, controls 90% of Afghanistan. It was a classic division of labor: the Pushtun provided the courage and the cannon-fodder, Gul and the ISI supplied the street-smarts, and the CIA did what it does best: dropped off suitcases full of cash without asking too many questions about where it was going. "A few years later, Gul got so crazy he turned into a liability for the CIA. For one thing, he said on the air that his friends in Al-Qaeda had nothing to do with 9/ll. His explanation was simple: the Israelis did it. That embarrassed his CIA pals so much they asked to interrogate Gul. The Pakis just laughed at that one. "Nobody interrogates the former head of the ISI, you silly Americans!" The ISI is above the law in Pakistan. They run the place, like the Mafia runs Sicily. "The US backed down, naturally--we never got to interrogate Gul. No hard feelings, though--the US announced this week that Pakistan is not just our friend but a major American ally "on a par with NATO." Hey, you Norwegians and Brits, you must be flattered as Hell to find out we put you right up there with Pakistan, the sleaziest, most corrupt country in the world! Can we pick our friends or what?