Friday 25 June 2010

'Kill TV' Starring Stanley McChrystal

"The gates of hell had been opened and you have got to help to shut them". The US forces, stuck behind their heavily guarded bases, only able to move around in heavy armoured convoys, were not the answer: the war would have to be taken to the insurgents in the streets and fields.Over cups of coffee at the main US base, Camp Victory, McChrystal described to fellow officers, like the British Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, then leading an SAS unit in Baghdad, his plans to carry out relentless rounds of night raids, killing or capturing insurgents, especially their commanders, and break the cycle of the militant groups "organically" reproducing themselves.There were many figures among the coalition forces who questioned the approach. One senior British officer dismissed the notion that such "industrial counter-insurgency" could work. But the targeted attacks began, and along with prisoners came intelligence vital in the programme of "decapitation" against al-Qa'ida.General McChrystal was in his element, eating just one meal a day, sleeping no more than four hours a night, constantly demanding more information on the militant networks. Among the few "artefacts" in his spartan accommodation was a prosthetic limb, belonging to a Sunni sheikh his men had gone to hunt but failed to find. The false arm had been abandoned during the man's hurried getaway.

1 comment:

  1. Patreus has more power in D.C. than he does in Afghanistan. His shopping list, and demands will be long and direct.
    His wish will be their command.

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