True to form, the Associated Press produced another obscenely skewed piece on American Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. Amir Shah and Fisnik Abrashi, the two AP reporters who wrote this garbage, are part and parcel of the AP’s pro-Islamic Fifth Column.
This is the gist of the article:
KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. and Afghan troops have abandoned a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan where militants killed nine American soldiers earlier this week, officials said Wednesday.
Compounding the military setback, insurgents quickly seized the village of Wanat in Nuristan province after driving out the handful of police left behind to defend government offices there, Afghan officials said.
……The assault underlined how Islamic militants appear to be gaining strength nearly eight years after the ouster of the Taliban, and the difficulties facing foreign and Afghan forces trying to defeat them.
Link: http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080716/tap-as-afghan-base-attack-d3b07b8.html
Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?
Here’s just some of what the AP conveniently forgot to mention:
Taliban fighters breached the outer perimeter of the outpost but were repelled. US troops called in artillery, helicopter, and air support to help beat back the attacking force. Casualties were heavy on both sides, with nine US soldiers and 40 Taliban fighters killed during the assault. Fifteen US and four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the attack.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/07/joint_al_qaeda_and_t.php
Hat Tip to Jeff Emanuel, who has more:
Reporters were quick to point out that this battle, which began in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday and lasted well into the day, resulted in the highest number of American casualties in Afghanistan since sixteen were killed when a helicopter was downed by RPG fire.
However, when the smoke of the battle cleared, and there was no mounting total of dead Americans to cover, news agencies lost interest, and moved along to cover other, bloodier developments in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Had those mainstream reporters continued paying attention, chances are they would have noted something remarkable about Sunday’s battle.
Three days before the attack, 45 U.S. paratroopers from the 173d Airborne, accompanied by 25 Afghan soldiers, made their way to Kunar province, a remote area in the northeastern Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, and established the beginnings of a small Combat Outpost (COP). Their movement into the area was noticed, and their tiny numbers and incomplete fortifications were quickly taken advantage of.
A combined force of up to 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters quickly moved into the nearby village of Wanat and prepared for their assault by evicting unallied residents and according to an anonymous senior Afghan defense ministry official, “us[ing] their houses to attack us.”
Tribesmen in the town stayed behind “and helped the insurgents during the fight,” General Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, the provincial police chief, told The Associated Press. Dug-in mortar firing positions were created, and with that indirect fire, as well as heavy machine gun and RPG fire from fixed positions, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters rushed the COP from three sides.
The attackers quickly breached the outer perimeter, and, under a withering barrage of supporting fire, a contingent of a mere 70 U.S. and Afghan soldiers combined were forced to fight for survival on their own outpost against the all-out assault from nearly 100 assailants.
The overwhelmingly outnumbered U.S. troops called in artillery, as well as fixed and rotary-wing air support, to help the repulse the attacking forces.
As recounted by the AP and other media outlets, nine U.S. paratroopers lost their lives — a full fifth of the American contingent.
Further, fifteen U.S. and four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the attack, meaning that, against an assault and support force of nearly 500 militant fighters, only 21 U.S. and 21 Afghan soldiers were able to fight at full strength — and they succeeded not only in killing dozens of attackers, but in repelling the onslaught completely.
Link: http://jeffemanuel.net/an-alamo-with-a-different-ending
That’s just one of the successful conclusions of battles the AP conveniently omits from their ‘press releases’.
The MSM will never acknowledge the success of American troops in a war it didn’t sanction.
The full citation of the 173rd’s bravery is documented here:
Link: http://northshorejournal.org/173rd-airborne-brigade-combat-team-heroes
American casualties are foisted by those asshats as another ‘check the block’ in their anti-American agenda. When the US wins, they quickly lose interest.
Stay classy, AP.