Secret No More: Harry Deployed In Afghanistan Since December

Despite a months long media blackout, the word is now out: Prince Harry of England is in Afghanistan on deployment. Harry, 23, has been on deployment in the dangerous Helmand region of southern Afghanistan since December. This deployment came seven months after initial plans for his deployment were canceled due to threats to kidnap him made by Iraqi and Taliban contingents.

News of his deployment came out despite an agreement by British authorities and select members of the international media not to release the information that he was in Afghanistan until after the completion of his deployment, affording the young prince the opportunity to carry out his duties in the Royal Army.

Harry has been responsible for calling in air strikes against Taliban positions, has conducted foot patrols through villages and has fired on suspected enemy combatants, pool photographs and footage have shown.

Before he was deployed, Harry, the son of Prince Charles and deceased Princess Diana, told reporters that he sometimes wished he was not a royal as it made it difficult to do things that he enjoyed, including fighting in the army.

General of the army Richard Dannatt has issued a statement expressing his disappointment in the violation of the rare agreement with the normally "free-for-all" media, and he, his chief of staff, and operational commanders will evaluate whether Harry's deployment will continue. Dannatt also commented that Harry's military service had been "exemplary," and that Harry has been a "model soldier," garnering for himself no special treatment in his role as a soldier due to his position as third in line of succession to the British throne.

Give'em HELL, Harry!

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


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Kicking Ass in Afghanistan

Usually others handle the news from the Middle East concerning our troops and their victories there.

I wanted this one.

My first reaction was "HELL YEAH!"

My second was "WHOOO WAHHHH!"

I think that when you read this, you'll understand why.

Hat tip to Sweetness & Light for this one:

Taliban launch frontal attack on base

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 7, 2:43 PM ET

GHAZNI, Afghanistan - A group of 75 Taliban militants tried to overrun a U.S.-led coalition base in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a rare frontal attack that left more than 20 militants dead, the coalition said in a statement.

The insurgents attacked Firebase Anaconda from three sides, using gunfire, grenades and 107 mm rockets, the coalition said. A joint Afghan-U.S. force repelled the attack with mortars, machine guns and air support.

"Almost two dozen insurgents were confirmed killed in the attack," the statement said. Two girls and two Afghan soldiers were wounded during the fight in Uruzgan province, it said.

A firebase like Anaconda is usually a remote outpost staffed by as few as several dozen soldiers.

"The inability of the insurgent forces to inflict any severe damage on Firebase Anaconda, while being simultaneously decimated in the process, should be a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of their fighters," said Army Capt. Vanessa R. Bowman, a coalition spokeswoman.

A direct attack on a U.S. or NATO base by insurgents on foot is relatively rare. More often insurgents fire rockets at bases and flee. Military officials say that Taliban fighters know they can't match Western militaries in a heads-up battle, which leads the insurgents to more often rely on roadside and suicide bombs.

OUTSTANDING job.

Don't you know the AP was going into meltdown for having to report this?

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Or maybe he was upset at the end of the Harry Potter series...

Some time back, on this site as well as others, there was an ongoing debate over the conditions of the detainee's at Gitmo.

Apparently the left was upset at the ill treatment of these people, such horrible things as providing them each with a Koran of their own, time to do their daily prayers, feeding them to the point that they were gaining weight, treating their medical needs, and providing them with access to a library, where one of the librarians went on the record as saying that the most requested books where those of the Harry Potter series.

I'm constantly amazed, and it takes a lot to amaze me any more, but I am CONSTANTLY amazed at how the left JUST DOES NOT understand how that the reason these people are being detained, the reason that they are under guard, the REASON that they are isolated on our portion of Castro's little island down there is because they are TOO DAMNED DANGEROUS to be brought onto our shores where they could possibly escape and lose themselves into existing terrorist cells here already on our home shores.

Now, I'm sure Rosie O'Donnell will have plenty to say about "death being preferable to being recaptured and tortured at Gitmo." I am certain that George Soros is already working on what spin to put on this to make the U.S. the bad guys again.

Read the article for yourself, and you tell me. Do we WANT this kind of extremist being released on the streets of the U.S.? Would YOU want to have him as your neighbor?

Former Guantanamo detainee blows himself up
By Paul Willis and agencies
Last Updated: 9:01am BST 24/07/2007

A former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who took up arms alongside the Taliban after he was released from detention has blown himself up to avoid capture, Pakistani security forces said today.

Abdullah Mehsud killed himself with a hand grenade after he was cornered by troops at a house in the south-western Pakistani town of Zhob. He was wanted for the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in 2004.

"My information is that (he) killed himself," said Atta Mohammed, the head of the police in Zhob. "Thanks be to God that only he was blown up and our men were safe."

Mehsud, 32, was released from the US detention centre in Cuba after two years in 2004 but immediately went back to violence when the Pakistani government began an offensive against the Taliban in the troubled region along the border with Afghanistan.

The one-legged militant was the leader of a group of fighters that kidnapped two Chinese engineers working on a hydroelectric dam project in South Waziristan. Pakistan was forced to apologise to China after one of the hostages died in the subsequent rescue attempt.

Mehsud escaped after the incident and has been hunted by Pakistani forces ever since.

What will it take to convince the left of the danger these extremists represent? What will it take for them to WAKE UP and realize that this isn't a game, it isn't something that is going to go away with diplomatic solutions or negotiations.

THEY WANT US DEAD.

And they are willing to sacrifice themselves to accomplish their goals.

Something to think about.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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