In 1919, a young British army officer, Francis Stockdale, was deployed to the Waziristan area of British India One of the main towns close to Waziristan is Tank. Capt Stockdale describes it as being "the worst station in British India". "It was known as 'Hell's door knocker' because in the summer the temperature would rise so high that a village nearby rejoiced in the highest temperature in the world - a modest 131 degrees in the shade. "But it was also an area where hostile tribesman waited, watched and pounced," he wrote. Capt Stockdale goes on to describe just how dangerous the "hostile tribesmen" were in the Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, when a sniper infiltrated a British camp. "Like all tribesmen in this area, he was a marvellous shot," Capt Stockdale wrote, "and he killed the commanding officer with his first shot. "He killed or wounded 11 other men before his hiding place was discovered." Capt Stockdale describes the lucky escape of one soldier who took to writing passionate letters to his wife and his mistress from a British encampment in the region that was surrounded by tribesmen. "Waiting for a target, they got bored and fired a bullet at random into the camp. It removed the digit finger of the man's right hand as he was writing to the loves of his life. the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to drop bombs on tribesmen encamped close to the border with Afghanistan. "Their bombs did not always explode upon hitting the earth and the tribesmen soon adapted themselves to shooting at flying targets. The pilots carried ransom papers, so if they were captured and returned to safety, the reward would be large." Some of the unexploded bombs dropped by the RFC were "collected by the tribesmen who used them to decorate their mud huts or houses". Local fighters in the 1920s were as tough then as they are now. "We often used to ask ourselves, how could they survive so long living in a rocky area, with a film of earth capable of growing only scrub trees?" read full at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7325117.stm does this give someone any clues on being at a wrong place ?
They left out how they use their own countrymen as human shields and then cry about the inhuman savagery of the infidels. Posting articles like this that frame these people up as some type of super-military commando heroes really goes contrary to the other story line that you more frequently push. You need to stick with one story line... either helpless victim, or super-military commando hero, because the two don't jive. The real truth is they are poor and uneducated people trying to make do with the hand dealt them. Unfortunately, the hand dealt them is living in 'Hell's door knocker' trying to eek out a living working for drug dealers and terrorist who rule with a heavy hand and a fickle set of rules. Regardless of where you fall in this conflict, it is INEVITABLE that one day, perhaps in the distant future, education will slowly trickle its way through that country, and the Taliban and Al Queda will be no more. On that day, the USA and the rest of the civilized and educated world will still be there with a hand of friendship extended.