Afghanistan Gone Wild

The killings in Mazar-i Sharif followed by rioting in Kandahar, Jalalabad and towns across the country are more than a little troubling.  Joshua Foust posted on the topic expressing concern about the viability of internationals remaining outside the wire which makes me concerned too because Joshua isn’t one to cry wolf..  Registan.net then added  a post by Joel Hafvenstein arguing that the insurgency is not targeting aid workers and the time to talk of pulling out has not been reached.

Kandahar, where protests broke out on Saturday was locked down until this morning by ISAF.  We had our own scare today when a villain walking near the Governors compound spontaneously detonated (malfunctions are as predictable as rain with Afghan suicide bombers) and his partner immediately started running down a side street towards our compound.  He was brought down in a spirited fusillade most of which seemed to snap over our compound walls.  This meeting engagement in downtown Lash apparently disrupted crowds which were gathering in the surrounding neighborhoods for a Koran burning protest.  We dispatched scouts to check out the city when we heard that but they reported the town to be locked down, streets empty and ANSF check points everywhere.  There was a Koran burning protest across the river fronting the main Lashar Gah bazaar but the ANSF won’t let them into the city.  The locals know that a large agitated mob would result in indiscriminate looting of the bazaar so the local elders were in the ANP  HQ by the afternoon complaining bitterly about allowing crowds to form in the first place.

One of the many smaller protests in downtown Kandahar this morning
One of the many smaller protests in downtown Kandahar Saturday morning

The violent protests in Kandahar left at least 8 Afghans dead and caused a complete lockdown of the city by ISAF ground combat units.  I’m ignoring the attacks on the Kabul ISAF bases last Friday.  Attacking them is a stupid, meaningless gesture which puts Afghan civilians caught in the crossfire at much greater risk then the international troops who guard the ECP’s.  The rioting in Kandahar is not a big surprise given the powder keg nature of the city as ISAF and ANSF forces continue to put the screws to Taliban networks.  The attack on a UN Compound in Mazar in which two of the Nepalese guards were reportedly beheaded is a little harder to explain.

The Wall Street Journal released the well researched article Inside the Massacre at Afghan Compound which gives a good account of what happened and why ISAF did not respond in time.  Mazar-i Sharif has indeed always been considered one of the safest towns in the country for foreigners.  Back in ’06 and ’07 when I frequently traveled to Mazar we considered the entire area to be benign and never carried rifles or body armor.  Just as in Jalalabad, a town reportedly hit with Koran burning protests today, the security situation in Mazar deteriorated dramatically during 2010.  I have heard from friends that the armed guards in the UN compound did surrendered their weapons without firing a shot.  That is not a big surprise.  Shooting into a crowd of unarmed people is not an easy thing to do.

The only way to handle a crowd this big and this close would be with CS gas grenades while pleading with ISAF to come to the rescue
The only way to handle a crowd this big and this close would be with CS gas grenades while pleading with ISAF to come to the rescue. This is the crowd outside the UN compound before they went high order. Photo from Sami the Finn

Private Security Companies in Afghanistan are not allowed to have CS or any other kind of grenade (except smoke) in their inventory so the UN guards could not volley CS gas over the walls in an effort to drive the mob away.  Nor could they volley frags and as you can see from the picture above gunfire would have been effective only if they started drilling a lot of people fast.  Most folks in that situation will decide lethal force is an option which will most likely make the situation worse.  Identifying the tipping point when lethal force would be appropriate would have been next to impossible last Friday. Trusting your fate to the mercy of the mob is a plan that could very likely go very wrong but most of us would probably go that route if the alternative is shooting massive numbers of unarmed people.  But not now.

Reuters is reporting:

A senior interior ministry investigator said on Sunday the killers of the U.N. staff appear to have been “reintegrated” Taliban — fighters who had formally laid down arms — although the insurgents have denied any role in the attack.

Over 30 people have been arrested, from areas as far afield as southern Kandahar, western Herat and central Baghlan province, said Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

If all those bad actors converged on Mazar-i Sharif to start a riot it was most likely because Mazar has a reputation as being safe.  It would be much harder to pull off a similar stunt in Lash and we saw how quickly the protests in Kandahar were locked down.  The security forces in contested areas react much faster to large unruly crowds.  In Mazar they were used to how things go in Mazar; they have never locked down the city nor have they ever had to deal with multiple Taliban complex attacks.  It appears the Koran burning provided the perfect opportunity for an organization with motive, money and organization to whip a large crowd out of control.  It would not surprise me if the killers were imported and paid too, but that is speculation on my part.  I note with interest that the Taliban have not claimed responsibility.

I am seeing things the same way as Joel Hafvenstein regarding the Afghanistan Aid effort; I don’t know of any company out here slowing down operations or packing up to go home.  The security situation deteriorated rapidly in the past 12 months except for in the Helmand and Kandahar Provinces where most population centers are solidly under ISAF/ANSF control.  I still think this summer could be a tipping point if the Taliban continue to get shredded in their southern homeland but we’ll have to see.  It may not prove to be decisive in the long term but then again who knows?  It’s going to be an interesting summer.

33 Replies to “Afghanistan Gone Wild”

  1. “It’s going to be an interesting summer.”

    You got that right timsan !! — Thanks for the reporting – !!

  2. I am a little north of kandahar and remarkably we havent seen anything to suggest that there are riots, lets hope it stays that way, I do route clearance and well lets just say the fighting season has begun!

  3. Excellent reporting. I’m on your site now because Mike Yon recommended it.

  4. everything I’m hearing is that this will be an epic fighting season; perhaps the ultimate fighting season. Troops are already in contact every day throughout the country.

    My opinion is that the riots are being used as a recruiting tool by the insurgency. That and the “kill team” photos being released at the same time smells a bit too much like someone shaping the psychological battlefield and stirring up the Ummah.

  5. This is an old tactic, from Amritsar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amritsar_Massacre) to Fallujah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah_killings_of_April_2003.) No way for the insurgents to lose-if the enemy pussies out and lays down his weapons, it’s time to chop off some heads, and if he disperses the crowd with gunfire, it’s a PR coup. The only way to avoid this kind of thing is to declare martial law (I mean, if Afghanistan isn’t an appropriate place to do this, what is?), make public assemblies by more than three individuals illegal, and be unapologetic bastards about enforcement. Afghans are people too, and once they figure out that marching on anything chanting slogans invariably gets you a 240 burst in the face, with total lack of subsequent apology, they’ll stop doing it. NOBODY is that stupid.

    Is this inhumane? Well, after one or two thousand Indian marchers died at Amritsar, the Brits launched a public investigation, fired the General responsible and in general made it obvious that they didn’t have their heart in it. In a quarter century, this resulted in the Brits popping smoke and the partition of India, which caused three orders of magnitude more death than Amritsar, and the ensuing wars which killed as many again. General Dwyer, who killed a thousand Indian civilians, is a villain. Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah killed millions, and they’re heroes. It’s enough to make you puke, if you think about it.

    Moral of the story? It’s not inhumane to machinegun a crowd marching on your compound. It’s inhumane to invade a place and then halfass its administration, subjecting the population to chaos, uncertainty and chronic violence. It’s inhumane to sabotage the process of pacifying a chaotic and violent place by appealing to false ideals of humanity, while ignoring the inevitable outcome of this kind of sabotage. We need to go hard or go home. No middle way. Anything else is just trying to sit on two chairs with one ass.

  6. Well written!
    On a side point the idiot in Florida was used and an excuse for these murders. The Imams and to some extent the President and al-jezerra have a lot of responsibility for this. Most of the “rioters” and murders would never have know about some obscure excuse for a preacher as that turd in Florida if not for those just listed.

    I wish you all luck in the next 6 months. I hope this turns out well, but with the Imams working for the opposition it will be hard to have a positive lasting impact.

  7. The whole thing will come apart during the 2014 post election riots in Kabul. That’s another trillion US dollars later for those keeping count.

  8. Great post Tim. A couple of things that trouble me about this, is how is it that our strategy in Afghanistan could be so dramatically impacted by the actions of one nut job in the US that decided to burn a Quran? Is the strategy durable enough to withstand these kinds of things? From Michael Hastings doing what he did to McChrystal, to the wikileaks clown, to this jerk in Florida–all of these have been events started by individuals, that have had dramatic impact on the war effort. With how easily folks are networked and able to impact events, the netwar (arquilla/ronfeldt) concept is definitely coming into it’s own.

    The question I have is if this strategy is durable enough to withstand events like this? And if not, perhaps the strategy should be looked at again to factor in the ‘nut jobs’ factor, etc.? Because this is ridiculous.

    The other thing that comes up with this ‘riot attack’, is how ill prepared security contractors are for this kind of thing. Tim is right about CS, and it is idiotic to think that all a company has available to deal with riots, is bad language or killing with their weapons? Where is the middle ground called ‘less than lethal’?

    I have harped on this before on the blog to get folks thinking about this stuff, and to really get innovative on the various ways to deal with this threat. Because if a protest gathers near your facility, now the enemy has a sea of people to mask it’s movements. And if that enemy can turn that protest into a riot, then they can attack and quite possibly motivate the crowd to participate in killing and hurting people. If guards fire into the riot, then the enemy wins as well because civilians are killed by the evil foreigners. The riot attack is a very real threat, and we will continue to see more incidents like this one, or what happened to the Dyncorp guys when they got into an accident.

    Rest in peace to the fallen Nepalese guards and UN staff.

  9. Mazar was ugly and I saw no sign of the Swedish during the riot with regards to ISAF forces reacting.

    1. You’re right they were busy eating cheese, chocolates, and trying to decide how to throw the blame around someone else’s neck. And the Afghan police QRF didn’t even fire up their Hummer’s or get off of their sleeping Mats. We have paid millions in funds for training, given them weapons, Ammunition, vehicles, bases, aircraft and toilet paper and yet they wipe their back sides with all of that and ask for more without assisting the UN in their time of need. Why don’t we just pull out and let them figure it out from here on out?

  10. Gosh…If my memory is correct, and there are some left on this planet who can recall their readings of the Holy Bible, I believe in the Old Testament there are two stories presented,in the books of Joshua and Judges, relating to the conquest of Canaan: Assimilation in one, military victory in another.

    Mission statements have been a popular creation for we Westerners these past 25 plus years, right? What happens when you choose the wrong Mission statement? Try as one might, it just doesn’t seem to come to fruition.

    Shrinks, every day, deal with patients who refuse to admit his/her decisions made in a primary moment with attending calamitous results: Takes more therapy until the truths are unmasked, if ever for some.

    Our dear “preacher” in Florida has “taunted” our dear muslim brothers and sisters into a behavior we all knew comprises a far too large a percentage than we desire: Who is afraid to stop this madness?

    My guess: The Majority of elected, national political representatives within the USA.

    I think muslims around the world understand this, like the guy who wants to be Egypt’s new leader, a former UN nuclear inspector chief who allowed those Iranians to continue building in secret their “Jewish solution and Great Satan present,” El Baradi stalled for years with his soft words of peace and love, right?

    Has America been “feminized” to such a point we call our present president a “metrosexual” for reasons most don’t even understand?

    An MRAP won’t hide guys inside who can’t win a battle due to ROEs that were created by Peace Corps lawyers.

    Who will “surrender” first?

  11. Question: Why didn’t our IO machine spin up a response prior to the event occurring beating the Taliban to the punch in order to counter their message prior to them releasing theirs? Are we that inept to think that they wouldn’t think propagate a message or are we that risk adverse to do anything? You know, like going on the offensive. If you know that you are going to get punched, wouldn’t you want to get in the first blow? Another one: Could this act be the catalyst that causes all of the efforts over here to be undermined? There was cataclysmic verbiage produced by our media regarding the ‘hunter killer’ photos of the dead Afghans. That pretty much became a sound bite. It’s difficult to influence an ignorant population that blindly follows a book that they can’t read a word of…. jussayin

  12. Our IO machine?? I thought it would be too busy trying to convince the tax payers why a $ 700- 1,200 billion + “defense” budget was needed or how the jihadi rebels in Libya aren’t actually jihadi rebels.

  13. The Coalition IO capabilities are near non-existent in this country. On the other hand, the insurgents’ IO capabilities are on the increase everyday. I have been following their propaganda/information campaign very closely over the past 18 months. During this period, I observed an evolution from mindless (and at times incomprehensible) babble to well constructed arguments, statements and real time operational reporting. While they are relatively free to fabricate, disseminate and extremely quick to respond, the Coalition have an endless process of drafting and approvals which are sent up and back down the chain with question marks and notes. No different to any other red tape exercise which most citizens encounter in every day life (in the real world).

    Our shortfalls are also substantiated by implementation techniques which are outdated, and irrelevant to most average Afghans. Our IO elements, whether they’re part of Intelligence or Psyops shops, are relatively clueless regarding ground situation and its’ populace, let alone possessing the ability for sound judgment when all hell breaks loose. I asked myself the very question immediately after the Mazar-e-Sharif incident, “what are the German Psyops teams doing?” I gather they did very little. There are countless things that can be done, with a little of innovation. However, one must understand the dynamics of the environment and its inhabitants in order to act rationally and effectively. This incident was orchestrated by an “external actor” who utilized the insurgent IO mechanisms to capitalize on the Holy Quran issue, which in fact, once again questions the Coalitions validity.

    Coalition members’ misconduct is another issue. Every time one of the generals boasts progress made, a call sign out on the line steps on their dicks with golf shoes by doing something extremely stupid, and/or illegal. Such instances undermine efforts, both, civil and military. As time goes on, it is becoming increasingly difficult to undo those actions and revert the local perceptions of the international community in our favor. Taking into consideration current atmospherics, the situation is irreversible as far as local support for the international community is concerned.

  14. I’d like to see the propaganda campaign that could overcome occupying foreigners (who generally disrespect Afghans and their culture) regularly killing innocent civilians.

    “The Taliban may kill more of you than we do!” just doesn’t have a ring to it.

    “Aren’t you all hajis???” and ” We shot your granddad because he got too close to our tank” also don’t seem to be viable messages.

    1. Had we entered Afghanistan those many years past with a “mission statement” different than what it would appear has evolved, perhaps there would not have been a pressing need to “crank up” an active propaganda campaign.

      For example: We went into this country (where one eats food with the right hand while wiping his ass with the left hand, where women are chattel, and everybody is expected to get down on hands and knees numerous times a day, facing in a special direction, to pray and listen to one who “knows” what god wants and demands of his people) with the goal of killing the Taliban, killing Al Qaeda, demeaning their governing structures, with such force, conviction and speed (read destruction) whereupon we then–after a short yet very intense period of time, told everyone in that country if they ever harbored or came to America with another attack we would do 1000 times more damage than just fell upon their sorry 9th century dumb asses! Then we quickly left, totally and completely.

      Was it our American women and those beta males in power that denied such an effort and instead choose the one we’re now dying from, being bleed to death slowly via the operating costs?

      Imagine Obama-Mao in military uniform out on patrol in this country, walking the walk, weapon in hand, prepared to fight the bad guys, to die for his buds or his native country, America…can you picture this? Metrosexual beta male lawyers joining hands with Nancy, Hillary, and this list goes on and on…driving our decisions for national security, etc.

      Our real problem: We voted these clowns into office and power! Whoops… Being lazy has bad results, does it not?

      Herodotus, Tacitus, Marcus Aurelius, Machiavelli and et al. gave us some lessons centuries ago. Our schools have said such writings don’t apply to modern society.

      I like propaganda, it has been good to me… Catchy tune!

    1. Hey Russ I appreciate the link. I too have a story about a burned Koran and even have pictures of the incident. I found one inside one of the shops we were re-furbishing and went off on my supervisors about why I had to be the one to insist it be taken care of. But I hesitate to publish the picture least it go viral among a population that is illiterate and would not know the context.
      Tell you something else too – if the press doesn’t let off on this Koran burning thing I bet that with time 9/11 will turn into national burn the Koran day. I personally could care less about the Koran but I’l fight for the constitution and so will most Americans. Let’s hope the press focus shifts to something else and this whole “provocation” angle goes away.

  15. I have been thinking a lot about root cause analysis of the issue, and we are faced with a psychology that simply goes into hyperdrive any time a threat is perceived, even the slightest.

    Pashtunwali, tribal affiliation, and a range of other factors across the religious and psychological spectrum and across the Ummah are at the core of the inability of the West (or East, Or South, for that matter) to reconcile with the Ummah.

    I thought a lot and blogged on it at http://oceanaris.wordpress.com

    You’re smart people and I would appreciate your thoughts on how to get out of this cf intact. The administration wants out, and the absolute minimum to “stabilize” this mess is 10-20 years.

    1. hate to say it, Matt, but it’s not that difficult. Or shouldn’t be.

      We “win” in A-stan by taking everything local rather than national.

      In other words, the lion share of the U.S. funding goes to U.S. commanders to dole out in their sole and broad discretion to win their AO. Each commander is given broad latitude to find out what works in their AO and carry through with minimal interference.

      Each province and district should be governed by local leaders with little to no interference from Kabul. Where possible, security is provided by locals.

      Get as many people off the FOB’s and into COP’s and embedded with the population to root and kill the Taliban. Anyone who is not combat should be sent home or trained to use a rifle, as much as possible anyway.

      In short, abandon the silly notion of making A-stan into a modern state with a central government and let A-stan revert to local rule that works in each district. Let Karzai be mayor of Kabul but that’s about it.

      1. That is about the only plan I see as viable at this point TS Alfabet – could not agree more,

        Baba T

  16. Once again I would like to bring up the fact that the majority of Afghans follow a book that none of them can read in its native language THUS the Arabs don’t consider them to be muslim unless it is convenient to call upon their ‘muslim brothers’ for something. And how much are the Afghans’ muslim brothers assisting in the cost of building I mean re-building ‘their’ country? RJ hit the name on the head with the LACK of mission statement. Now I didn’t go that far in my military career relatively speaking but I do know what a proper mission statement is ‘supposed’ to look like. Task, Purpose in order to reach a obtainable end state are requirements last time I checked. Denying AQ locations in which to recruit, train etc. Is about as much BS as someone on the ground here wanting to make a difference can stomach. AQ could be 2 terrain features from any COP or FOB doing just that and we would have no idea about it. Babatim you are exactly right. You post photos of a burnt koran and see my first statement…. YOU will receive the wrath from ignorants from all communities… you insensitive bastard!!! hahaha This summer should make for an interesting time. I wonder what will happen next?????

  17. As far as response to riots of the sort in Mazar…

    I wonder if it is possible for each compound to have some kind of “panic room” or citadel of sorts that has only one, very strong access point. All the non-afghans can take shelter there and it can be defended or withstand attack for a relatively longer period of time, equipped with communications and rations to last long enough for the cavalry to arrive.

    Another awesome crowd control tool that the Marines have been testing is a non-lethal ray gun (seriously) that inflicts a burning sensation in the skin of anyone it is pointed toward. It can be aimed at a broad area and it feels as if your flesh is on fire (although it is actually harmless and leaves no, lasting damage). Imagine the psychological impact that could have on average Afghans– an invisible, inaudible beam that is capable of causing intense pain but does not kill or wound. Hey Abdul! It must be magic! No more riots for me, thanks.

  18. For the west there is no winning in Afghanistan. We should be down to limiting losses in cash and men as we leave. It makes not a wit of difference to US security if Helmand is run by us, the Taliban or a mix. It does, however matter a great deal if our running it costs the equivalent of a Fortune 500 company annually.

    Of course if you are a military force hoping to stall badly deserved cuts to your budget, a contractor hoping the gravy train keeps rolling or a politician wishing to show how much you “support the troops” then the security of every Afghan hamlet, no matter how backwards or far from the outside world, becomes a vital US interest.

    It’s all a racket.

  19. “I wonder if it is possible for each compound to have some kind of panic room or citadel of sorts that has only one, very strong access point. All the non-afghans can take shelter there and it can be defended or withstand attack for a relatively longer period of time, equipped with communications and rations to last long enough for the cavalry to arrive.”

    If they don’t the general manager and his security adviser should be fired. I hope your concern about “non-Afghans” is based on the idea that the local staff can and would want to go home during a riot and look after their families rather than the idea that locals are disposable or unworthy of protection. What they are supposed to do in the event of a surprise attack is another question.

    1. Yes, J, the assumption is the Afghans would mostly be able to slip away or otherwise not be the target of the attacks as non-Afghans would be.

  20. satraps and viceroys doling out the queen’s shilling? It worked for the British.

    From my reading on the Mazar riot, there was some form of panic room. It was forced open and one of the UN employees claimed he was Muslim, and was beaten instead of killed. The others who made it there, 1 or two of them, were executed.

  21. There’s no evil to it, it’s just the way big government organizations work along with our system of perverse incentives that rewards failure and political decision makers not having anything but their reputation in the game.

    The system is designed to “do something” without much regard to cost and is biased against cost effectiveness. It is fundamentally corrupt and generally incapable of carrying out it’s core or optional tasks at a reasonable cost.

    Iraq and Afghanistan are the symptoms and some of the proof that the US government system is broken and needs immediate and massive reform. Since that is unlikely more foreign and domestic debacles are in store.

  22. Tim- I drive pass the UN compound in Mazar every couple of days. It has 20 foot concrete “T” walls topped with C-wire. The main ECP has no stand off detonation area, the guard towers were constructed of flimsy crap that .22 rounds could perforate easily. However, when I first saw it i knew it would be an easy target due to its placement on the edge of a traffic circle and attachment to adjoining buildings without any real protective measures in place.

    When the riot broke out the UN’s security advisor was actually in a meeting with some of my colleges. She was busy telling everyone how much the local population loved the UN, how safe they felt, and how the US Army was all but useless and didn’t get along with UN personnel very well.

    Then on her way back to her safe and secure compound in the wonderful city of Mazar she found out that her co-workers had died and were still under attack by all of the lovely friends she has here in Afghanistan.
    She never called the US Army for assistance and had to stay overnight at another PSC’s compound. The Afghan police had 20 men monitoring the demonstration when all hell broke loose and didn’t send more. Those 20 men fired up in the air over the heads of the crowd. As did some of the Nepalese guards. It was just a waste of a precious commodity, ammunition.

    Some of the Nepalese Guards and even the police surrendered their weapons to the mob who then turned on them, shooting the Nepalese guards with their own weapons. There is video posted by the Taliban (who were present) on the internet that clearly show people scaling the wall and entering the gate with an AK-47 in hand and firing.

    The mob was easily riled up by the local Mullah who regularly spouts anti-western sentiments over the external PA system.

    One of the locals (possibly Talib) said “We went to the UN to disarm them SO THERE WOULDN’T BE ANY PROBLEMS and they wouldn’t give us their weapons so we killed them.” This sounds like something the Taliban would have conjured up as a logical reason to attack the UN. For those reader who haven’t dissected this idiots train of thought and seen the stupidity in his words and logic I will do it for you. Firstly this is the UN we are talking about and they don’t go anywhere.They are known all around the world for doing…as little as possible. They certainly don’t go out looking for trouble in Mazar. Secondly there were only 12 AK-47’s in the entire compound and they belonged to the Nepalese Guards, who never leave. They certainly weren’t going to walk or drive the mile to where the protests started to stir things up with the locals. Besides 12 AK-47’s is not enough to go out and stop a mob of 500+ idiots from doing anything and expect to get to the next block alive.

    So I say the Taliban were most certainly there whether they want to take credit for it or not. I’m sure they know they screwed up to some degree and decided to let the public take the blame in the media so they can try to paint themselves as a more politically savvy group than they really are.

    Third this herd of protesters had to cover the distance of over a mile on foot to get from the Blue Mosque to the UN compound. Afghan people don’t walk fast enough for anyone to convince me that the ANP, ANA, the Swiss, or even the US Army that there wasn’t enough reaction time to save those people. The US Army is the farthest away at Camp Mike Spann and Marmal, it would’ve taken them the longest to Mobilize and reach the location, about 1 hour for ground forces and 10 minutes for Airborne ops. EVERYONE ELSE was close enough to have been there in a few minutes.

    The swiss PRT says they called the Afghan Police and were told the protest was still peaceful, when in fact the attack was well underway.

    One of the UN Staff was smart enough to tell the guy who just shot one of his co-workers that he was a Muslim and recited in a section of the Quran/Koran Dari or Pushtu to prove it. They only beat him to a bloody pulp and left him in a ditch thinking he was dead or would die. A local was smart enough to toss him into a car and drive him to the hospital. He was one of the only UN staffers who were there that lived. Another survivor was a Nepalese Guard who hid in a closet/cabinet until everyone was done killing the people he was supposed to protect.

    What should these guards have done with what tools they had at their disposal? When the Mob arrived they should have gotten ALL of their VIP’s into their safe room,and not just the few they did, while barricading the gates. They should have gotten on the public address system and explained a few simple facts that should have been easy enough to comprehend. Saying some thing like…”We do NOT want to harm anyone. We will not hand over our weapons. We do not have any less than lethal ammunition. If you climb the walls or enter the compound you will be shot dead.” then they should have dropped back into a defensive position, called for help and shot any idiot that climbed the wall or entered the compound.

    Once they have decided to enter compound it is no longer a protest or demonstration, IT IS AN ATTACK.

    You don’t know if they have a suicide vest on, pistols, knives, or hand grenades. all you know for certain is that they are coming to harm or kill you and your people you are charged with protecting. After a few of the locals fall from the top of the walls to the ground with large organ stopping holes blasted in them the rest of the mob will be a lot less likely to want to scale the wall and get an overdose of lead.

    From the time when the crowd gathered out front of the UN to when they dispersed took less than one hour. That is how fast this “safe city” went from normal citizens to a mass of zombie like crazed killers searching for western non-Muslim blood.

    Despite what was reported in several news stories no heads were cut off, but dead is dead just the same.

    I feel there is a certain moron in Florida who needs to be held responsible for the deaths here that his book burning caused. Yes he has freedom of speech, until he knowingly uses that freedom to incite people to commit murder. Do you think Charles Manson had the right to tell his followers to go out and kill for him? This Floridian ego-maniac was told over a year ago by everyone from the president all the way down to the humble mothers of US soldiers abroad that burning the Muslim’s only holy book would cause deaths of innocent people. Yet he went a head and did it, a year later. Which in my mind constitutes PREMEDITATED murder.

    He thought about it for a year knowing it would cause needless deaths then decided to go ahead with it.That is a year of premeditation.

    The only reason this guy isn’t in the deepest darkest jail cell is because the deaths happened in Afghanistan. If he had incited a riot in Washington DC that got red cross workers killed he would have been cuffed and stuffed as he should have been and still should be.

    Just one Christian Marine’s perspective and opinion.

    Semper Fi from Mazar

Comments are closed.