Here's some crazy shit if you didn't hear about it already. The attack caused the death of eight Americans (a total, it is constantly pointed out-- rightfully so-- is one of the highest death tolls in the eight years we've been in Afghanistan*), as well as three Afghan soldiers. Besides being a massive, coordinated, and, most importantly, deadly attack, the whole thing reminds me of Vietnam.
Ever since the invasion of Iraq, that comparison has been thrown around a lot to no real gain. It's only confused the wars we're in now and the wars we've fought in the past. Still, though, any time I ever hear about a remote outpost being overrun by insurgents, my mind goes to South-East Asia. I can't help it!
This reminded me of
an entry in the diary of Robert Baden-Powell (who basically founded the Boy Scouts). He served in Afghanistan during the Second Anglo-Afghan War and during the occupation, the British had trouble with
ghazis attacking their soldiers. It didn't do much to get the British to think about leaving, but that wasn't really the point. The point of the attacks was that, in the attacker's mind, he would instantly be sent to heaven after not only killing an infidel, but dying for his religion. Spotty logic aside, the British had a problem. So, they figured out a solution. What they decided to do was, instead of killing every Afghan they saw with grudge (which would have simply been every Afghan they saw), they would bury every ghazi that attacked them with a dog, thereby-- according to the ghazi's beliefs-- preventing him from going to heaven. Attacks against British soldiers in the streets dropped down to nothing.
Some might think that it's pretty religiously insensitive and I guess, yeah, it is, but it's also a pretty sick burn.
"Oh you're going to fuck with us, eh, chap? Well, we're just going to use your own silly code against you. How about them apples? And what's more is that if you weren't a jerk in the first place we wouldn't even be doing this to you! Think on that! I mean, we can buy the life of one of our soldiers with one dog? Maybe even only part of a dog? Alright. Fine by us. And just look at this place. Dogs bleeding everywhere. Dogs in the mountains. Dogs in the trees. Dogs in the aqueducts. Dogs doing algebra. Dogs riding other dogs. You'd have to pay money not to have a dog in this country! And you know what else! I know people that would consider it an honor to be buried with a dog! Huh? Chew on that!"
Come on, that's kind of funny. Admit it.
I wonder if we still do this with the scumbags we're fighting and if we aren't, why not**? It seems like something that'd be right up the Psychological Warfare people's alley.
Those guys love a good practical joke. Then again I don't see the need to bring the poor dogs into this. Poor guys probably have bad enough times.
Oh well. Until then.
*Bloody hell. We've been in Afghanistan for
eight years? When did that happen? That's over a third of my life. Jeepers H. Crackers. I guess when you think about it, it's kind of encouraging. I mean, even though I haven't done too much with my life in that amount of time, it seems that neither has Afghanistan.
**Stupid question, I know.
