Thread: Human shields

BBC News - Afghanistan Taliban 'using human shields' - general
Taliban militants are increasingly using civilians as "human shields" as they battle against a joint Afghan-Nato offensive, an Afghan general has said.
Gen Mohiudin Ghori said his soldiers had seen Taliban fighters placing women and children on the roofs of buildings and firing from behind them.

The Taliban is getting more and more desperate. They are going to loose the support of the Afgan people using tactics like that. The sooner the Taliban and Al Queda are wiped from the face of the earth the better.

sure got that right. They are scum of the lowest order, like whale shit on the bottom of the ocean.

Originally Posted by Aguda

The Taliban is getting more and more desperate. They are going to loose the support of the Afgan people using tactics like that.

I wonder in which world you live. It is always the americans who are blamed. The tactic of the poor overpowered Taliban is excusable in the eyes of the world.

Originally Posted by Aguda

The sooner the Taliban and Al Queda are wiped from the face of the earth the better.

With that statement I agree.

The cowardly use of human shields has always been a favourite with so called freedom fighters,we came up against this practise in northern ireland, only difference there was, the crowds volontarily shielded the gunmen.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

I wonder in which world you live.

The real world.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

It is always the americans who are blamed.

I wasn't aware I was blaming the Americans, or are you being sarcastic?

Originally Posted by Takeovers

The tactic of the poor overpowered Taliban is excusable in the eyes of the world.

Most of the civilized world would condemn their actions.

Originally Posted by Aguda

The Taliban is getting more and more desperate. They are going to loose the support of the Afgan people using tactics like that. The sooner the Taliban and Al Queda are wiped from the face of the earth the better.

Either that or this is a preemptory PR move by the American Military and Government because they know they are going to be killing more civilians.

Originally Posted by BobR

Either that or this is a preemptory PR move by the American Military and Government because they know they are going to be killing more civilians.

You have got to be out of your fucking mind.
Everywhere the Islamic fighters are it is the same, no matter who they are fighting.
Recruiting and paying poor familys for their children to be suicide bombers, ,Firing missle batterys from school yards and apt buildings and civilian congested areas,, they think of no one when it comes to protection of them selves.

Originally Posted by BobR

Originally Posted by Aguda

The Taliban is getting more and more desperate. They are going to loose the support of the Afgan people using tactics like that. The sooner the Taliban and Al Queda are wiped from the face of the earth the better.

Either that or this is a preemptory PR move by the American Military and Government because they know they are going to be killing more civilians.

Hmmm ? maybe the end justifies the means ? - an Afghani civilian could be a terrorist in mufti being used an excuse to hold back American forces ? - impossible to assess without onsite information.

Originally Posted by blackgang

Originally Posted by BobR

Either that or this is a preemptory PR move by the American Military and Government because they know they are going to be killing more civilians.

You have got to be out of your fucking mind.
Everywhere the Islamic fighters are it is the same, no matter who they are fighting.
Recruiting and paying poor familys for their children to be suicide bombers, ,Firing missle batterys from school yards and apt buildings and civilian congested areas,, they think of no one when it comes to protection of them selves.

Yep in a nutshell!

Wont do em any good hiding behind women and children. The Yanks will bomb the lot of them anyway.

A tactic as old as the hills. But, of course, it's good PR for these pr*ks when the world blames the Yanks for killing the womenfolk and kids.

Yea, those cowards ought to come out and fight like real men.
Just because they are outnumbered 10 to 1 and facing the combined forces of the worlds most technologically advanced military forces is no reason why they should fight dirty. It isn't jolly well fair I tell you! Queensbury rules and all.

Didn't some posters advocate the 'all is fair in war' idea when it comes to 'prisoners'?

So, a guerrilla war - very much like the US war for independence - is abhorrent, but bombing the shit out of civilians while sitting in a comfy office 5000 miles away is a good thing and honourable . . . that's the front line.

I'd stand behind women an children if some twat from the cia was playing at war games from his play station console 5000 miles away God bless the good old usa And keep the oil flowing Look out Iran

Originally Posted by panama hat

Didn't some posters advocate the 'all is fair in war' idea when it comes to 'prisoners'?

Might be, but is this a war? And if so, then who you are fighting sets the rules as Geneva convention has no rules in a police action and what ever rules is set by THE ENEMY, who ever that is should be upheld.
But are the women and children spoken of in this thread civilians living a contested zone considered prisoners, or used as human shields unless it is the side using them who's idea that it is alright to kill civilians, And they seem to be the ones crying about it being done.

I thought that Afghanistan was more of a UN police action that a declared war.

But anyway the OP is about Civilian Shields,, not about war, as I know you and Panda are very well versed about and have much actual experience on the firing lines.

Originally Posted by panama hat

but bombing the shit out of civilians while sitting in a comfy office 5000 miles away is a good thing and honourable . . . that's the front line. __________________

I don't know about the war of Independence,, as far as I can see that was many years ago and it seems that it was the people living in the, now USA, against the British, and I know of no civilians as the Brits considered everyone there as an enemy and did shell the shit out of towns.
But civilization and weaponry now is such that whole citys do not need to be decimated, but with accuracy to take out 1 or 2 houses in a city is possible there fore saving considerable civilian lives and property, where before there was only the shelling and the advancement of large numbers of troops fighting thru many miles of populated areas to get to the house in question and very much more death and destruction during the advance than is done by one or two drones equipped with very accurate rockets, that do kill the people that were the main targets with some collateral damage., And who would not have been there when a troop invasion had reached that point so many more deaths would have occurred.

Seems that all is fair in love and war... Depending on who is doing it:


"...My testimony involves burning of villages with civilians in them, the cutting off of ears, cutting off of heads, torturing of prisoners, calling in of artillery on villages for games, corpsmen killing wounded prisoners, napalm dropped on villages, women being raped, women and children being massacred..."

"...My testimony will consist of eyewitnessing and participating in the calling in of artillery on undefended villages, mutilation of bodies, killing of civilians, mistreatment of civilians..."

"...My testimony includes killing of non-combatants, destruction of Vietnamese property and livestock, use of chemical agents and the use of torture in interpreting prisoners..."

"...On one occasion, a North Vietnamese Army nurse was killed by 11th Armored Cavalry troops; subsequently a grease gun of the type used in automotive work was placed in her vagina and she was packed full of grease..."


- Testimonies from the Winter Soldier Investigations
Winter Soldier Investigation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Soldiers went berserk, gunning down unarmed men, women, children and babies. Families which huddled together for safety in huts or bunkers were shown no mercy. Those who emerged with hands held high were murdered. ... Elsewhere in the village, other atrocities were in progress. Women were gang raped; Vietnamese who had bowed to greet the Americans were beaten with fists and tortured, clubbed with rifle butts and stabbed with bayonets. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest. By late morning word had got back to higher authorities and a cease-fire was ordered. My Lai was in a state of carnage. Bodies were strewn through the village"

- My Lai

Its all about the poppys

Originally Posted by Jesus Jones

I wonder how many humans used as cowardly shields have died in comparison those innocents of the"pin point" accuracy of the US an Allied "super advanced" drones.

Hard to say, but has most likely been many in all the fighting that has been done against Hamas and Hizbollah , Al Quaida and Tali Ban, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. who like to take cover in heavily populated areas as well as all the suicide bombing.
But that is also off topic as to this OP.
But the accuracy of the drones is far superior to sending 10,000 armed troops halfway thru a country to kill a enemy leader that will not be where intelligence put him when the drone was launched, by the time the troops get there after fighting all the way for 200 miles.
And the others that were in that house could not be that innocent.

You want to remember during your liberal tirades that they do also bomb and kill innocent civilians without due cause each time a suicide bomber lights the wick on his vest in a wet market or bazaar.
Which is far more than is killed by any troops from UN countrys.

Originally Posted by blackgang

You want to remember during your liberal tirades that they do also bomb and kill innocent civilians without due cause each time a suicide bomber lights the wick on his vest in a wet market or bazaar.
Which is far more than is killed by any troops from UN countrys.

Indeed. When 'they' bomb and kill innocent civilians it's "terrorism", when 'we' do it it's "collateral damage".

This was inevitable in Afghanistan, as the US has stated in every forum available that its intent is to avoid deaths of Afghan civilians at all costs. Since we gave them our game plan well in advance, they would simply be foolish not to take advantage of it. I feel sorry for the troops fighting under these 'rules of engagement'. Damned if you do, dead if you don't.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

When 'they' bomb and kill innocent civilians it's "terrorism", when 'we' do it it's "collateral damage".

In the end, the we's and they's killed are all commonly known as dead.

Antsy, what would you call it if the cops called you and said that you wife and kids was down to the San Sai wet market buying some shit for your supper and some Islamic Thai had came up from Yala and came in and torched off a vest load of simtex and she and the kids were blown into little pieces and the only way they could inentify them was your wifes wallet had survived complete distruction.

Would you call that terrorism or colateral damage??

The thing is to remember that colateral damage is accidental altho it is known some will take place sometimes.
But when one walks into a crowded area with the intent of blowing up a bunch of people that are milling around buying mickey Mouse toys for the kid or setting behind a bunch of women or kids or firing from a school with a bunch of kids inside then That is, in my book Terrorism, I do not know what you would call it.