25 | September | 2008 | Robot Pirate Ninja

WASHINGTON — Pakistani and American ground troops exchanged fire along the border with Afghanistan on Thursday after the Pakistanis shot at two American helicopters, ratcheting up tensions as the United States increases its attacks against militants from Al Qaeda and the Taliban, who are being sheltered in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas.

The two American OH-58 Kiowa reconnaissance helicopters were not damaged and no casualties were reported on either side from the ground fire. But American and Pakistani officials agreed on little else about what happened in the fleeting mid-afternoon clash between the allied troops.

American and NATO officials said that the two helicopters were flying about one mile inside Afghan air space to protect an American and Afghan patrol on the ground when the aircraft were fired on by small-caliber arms fire from a Pakistani military checkpoint near Tanai district in Khost Province.

Pakistani and American Troops Exchange Fire – NYTimes.com.

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There were some earlier reports about this happening, but this is the first one that has both sides saying this has happened. With the current regime change in Pakistan, it would behoove our efforts to get in good with someone.

We’ll see if we can find some more information on this one (and by “this one” I mean the story about the War on Terror expanding into Pakistan). If someone good comes up I’ll pass it along.

In CBS Interview, Palin Calls For Surge In Afghanistan – Horserace.

This is an excerpt from [and reaction to] an interview with Governor Palin from CBS Spokeshead Katie Couric. The question was regarding the difference in challenges between Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a serious answer, allegedly.

Katie Couric: Why is it much more challenging there? Can you explain that?

Sarah Palin: The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now. The… things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that– Bin Laden is– is hiding out right now and… and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement.

[Woah…what? Who is “we”? Sarah Palin knows where Osama bin laden is? Awesome. Please, somebody give her a shotgun and a plane and she can go get ’em. -ed ]

There… there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that… a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq.

[Awesome. We won in Iraq. Again. Sure, the guy who implemented the Surge [+20,000 troops] (and presided over the Sadr Sit-down [-60,000 insurgents/”terrorists”]) said that talk of “victory” was silly. But hey, screw it. We won.

Again. -ed]

And as I say, Katie, that we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq. That’s not gonna get us any better off in Afghanistan either.

[Umm, it’s the same military in both countries. Moving troops from one country to another is what happens. It’s not retreat when you just said, a second ago, that we would be movinng troops from a country where we “won”. And you don’t just magaically create a new “surge” with a military has been under vast strain for the past 5 years. Some of this was in the news, I think. -ed]

And as our leaders are telling us in our military, we do need to ramp it up in Afghanistan, counting on our friends and allies to assist with us there because these terrorists who hate America, they hate what we stand for with the… the freedoms, the democracy, the… the women’s rights, the tolerance, they hate what it is that we represent and our allies, too, and our friends, what they represent. If we were… were to allow a stronghold to be captured by these terrorists then the world is in even greater peril than it is today. We cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan.

[No, they don’t hate us for our “tolerance”, Mrs. Pray-Em-Straight. They hate us because we keep accidentally killing their women and children and bombing their weddings. The Taliban doesn’t do these things. The Taliban just runs the government in half the country, and outlaws modern/liberal society. This isn’t a problem that bombing can solve. “Ramping it up”, whatever that means, doesn’t seem like an adequate strategy prescription. “Generals, ramp it up!!!” isn’t going to work on a people who have been “conquered” by the best in history, yet have somehow kept living the same lifestyle in some of the roughest terrain on earth…for a few thousand years. -ed]

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Watch the video. The joke has gone on long enough. And now that McCain has ‘suspended’ his campaign because he is so important to Washington getting stuff done, my guess is that Governor Palin will be front and center of the campaign now.

Right?

Leading the team to victory.

Where you at, girl?