DS – when I served in Iraq in 2003, there was no question in my mind that going out of the green zone in camisole, flak jacket, helmet, and military escort made one much more of a likely or potential target than going out in civvies, in an Iraqi foreign ministry dusty Toyota, in which case it was much less likely you were in anyone’s crosshairs.
Zabul province is an area where Taliban are known to be active.
An MRAP is not a magic pumpkin. If there are enough artillery shells strung together with detonation cord in the back of an SUV, the blast they release when they detonate simultaneously will penetrate the side armor of an MRAP. The shock wave alone from such an explosion will certainly injure and possibly kill people, if there are enough rusty shells involved, and if it is close enough to the vehicle in which those people happen to be riding, even if it is an M-1 tank. The MRAP is on the edge of being useless in Afghanistan because it is too unwieldy for use off road, and there are not as many roads in Afghanistan as there were in Iraq, which was where the MRAP replaced the Humvee as a better means of getting from one place to another. Remember Occam’s razor. There doesn’t need to be malfeasance or some diabolical conspiracy. And it’s more important to deliver books than to kill people. Books aren’t ephemera. Neither are some people.
GK – Thanks for your comment. My understanding is diff MRAPs are being used in AFG. A blog pal is writing a separate piece on MRAPs. Will link to it when it is up. I’m not saying there is a diabolical conspiracy. But when you ask questions and people are evasive, it makes you start to wonder. I have additional details that I did not include in the post for a specific reason. Hope to have somebody else do the work on that.
DS – when I served in Iraq in 2003, there was no question in my mind that going out of the green zone in camisole, flak jacket, helmet, and military escort made one much more of a likely or potential target than going out in civvies, in an Iraqi foreign ministry dusty Toyota, in which case it was much less likely you were in anyone’s crosshairs.
Zabul province is an area where Taliban are known to be active.
An MRAP is not a magic pumpkin. If there are enough artillery shells strung together with detonation cord in the back of an SUV, the blast they release when they detonate simultaneously will penetrate the side armor of an MRAP. The shock wave alone from such an explosion will certainly injure and possibly kill people, if there are enough rusty shells involved, and if it is close enough to the vehicle in which those people happen to be riding, even if it is an M-1 tank. The MRAP is on the edge of being useless in Afghanistan because it is too unwieldy for use off road, and there are not as many roads in Afghanistan as there were in Iraq, which was where the MRAP replaced the Humvee as a better means of getting from one place to another. Remember Occam’s razor. There doesn’t need to be malfeasance or some diabolical conspiracy. And it’s more important to deliver books than to kill people. Books aren’t ephemera. Neither are some people.
GK – Thanks for your comment. My understanding is diff MRAPs are being used in AFG. A blog pal is writing a separate piece on MRAPs. Will link to it when it is up. I’m not saying there is a diabolical conspiracy. But when you ask questions and people are evasive, it makes you start to wonder. I have additional details that I did not include in the post for a specific reason. Hope to have somebody else do the work on that.