# Things that make you wonder, Italians bribing taliban



## Torch (Oct 16, 2009)

French killed after Italy bribed Taliban: report | Army News at DefenceTalk


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## timshatz (Oct 16, 2009)

I can believe it. Cheaper and easier than fighting them.


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## lesofprimus (Oct 16, 2009)

Bummer about the French Troops.....

How bout this video link of a bunch of insurgents blowing themselves up while messing around with an IED.....

Insurgents accidentally blow themselves up | Military Videos at DefenceTalk

I love it......


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## timshatz (Oct 16, 2009)

"No, No Aknod, you don't push THAT button to make it go off, you push THIS....BAM"

Yeah, priceless is right.

Not suprised by the French putting a limit on either. Why send more guys when the dude at the top of the main force is sending mixed signals himself. Really a little common sense from the French on this one. Figure out if you are going to Win, Lose or Go Home. Then do it. Until then, commit to nothing.


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## vikingBerserker (Oct 16, 2009)

Nice!

That's sad about the French troops. I really hope the article about bribing is not true.


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## pbfoot (Oct 16, 2009)

Didn't the Italians leave Iraq after paying a large ransom for a captured journalist


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## Messy1 (Oct 16, 2009)

I like the "Whoa! Never mind!"


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## Colin1 (Oct 16, 2009)

I don't get the 'make sure you inform your Allies' bit
what do they think the Taleban are spending this money on?
You've got to wonder how many Allied soldiers have been killed with weapons bought with Italian money
Madness, if they've got no stomach for a fight, they should stay out of it.


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## Messy1 (Oct 16, 2009)

I'm afraid that is a lesson that has to be re-learned every other generation.


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## Butters (Oct 16, 2009)

lesofprimus said:


> Bummer about the French Troops.....
> 
> How bout this video link of a bunch of insurgents blowing themselves up while messing around with an IED.....
> 
> ...



Me too

The thing about this video that really got me was how clearly it shows how utterly antiethical the worldview of the Taliban types is from ours. The Apache pilots are restrained from taking immediate action because of the presence of the child. The insurgents, OTOH, think nothing of exposing a child to a situation that they know is inherently extremely dangerous.

Those people live in a completely different world from ours...

JL


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## BikerBabe (Oct 16, 2009)

With that president, it sure ain't no surprise after all.


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## Messy1 (Oct 16, 2009)

And it also shows the compassion of the solider's serving over there from all the nations. The one soldier is screaming for this kid to get the hell out of there, and is very relieved when he does, even though this young person obviously had ties to the insurgents messing with the bomb, they still wanted him to be safe.


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## RabidAlien (Oct 17, 2009)

Nice video!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 17, 2009)

pbfoot said:


> Didn't the Italians leave Iraq after paying a large ransom for a captured journalist



I thought they left after a journalist was killed by a US checkpoint, because the journalist was not smart enough to stop at the checkpoint. After that they blamed the soldiers at the checkpoint, even though they have strict orders to fire on anyone trying to run the checkpoint.


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## wheelsup_cavu (Oct 17, 2009)

I seem to remember it happening that way too Adler.


Wheels


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## vikingBerserker (Oct 18, 2009)

IIRC, there was some Itailian Intelligence agent with her that was killed.


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## Arsenal VG-33 (Oct 18, 2009)

I'm quite pleased to see much of the French media steering clear of blaming the Italians in general, and instead pointing the finger straight at Berlusconi. With a man like him, anything can happen, especially considering the reputation which preceeds him. He's already really harmed Italy's image with his past shenanigans, and this latest fiasco is only further arguement that he needs to leave, preferrably sooner than later. If the bribing charges are indeed true, then I hope he stands trial for it.


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## timshatz (Oct 18, 2009)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> I thought they left after a journalist was killed by a US checkpoint, because the journalist was not smart enough to stop at the checkpoint. After that they blamed the soldiers at the checkpoint, even though they have strict orders to fire on anyone trying to run the checkpoint.



I think there were also allegations that she (the Italian journalist) helped set up her own capture. In Italy, she was a reknowned Communist sympathizer and one of the crowd that saw anything bad to the US was bad for Bush. 

Her ransome was 1M. Paid by the Italian Govt (without the US Govt knowledge) and the security agent agent was killed when he didn't stop at a checkpoint and was thought to be a suicide bomber. Italians later brought charges against the non-com in charge of the check point. Not sure how that panned out.

Tte 1M ransom was statistically equal to the deaths of 4-5 American Troops (200-250K persolider). However, from what I have heard about the Iraqi Insurgents, I find it almost impossible to believe all (if any) of that money went back in the kitty for attacks. Most likely, it went in some dude's pocket and stayed there.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 18, 2009)

timshatz said:


> Italians later brought charges against the non-com in charge of the check point. Not sure how that panned out.



Nothing happened to them if I recall it correctly. The US Army was not going to punish soldiers for following orders. That is what you do when someone fails to stop at a checkpoint. You open fire and you stop that vehicle.

The Italians should have notified the US military that they would be coming through a checkpoint. They would have received assistance and everything.


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## Maestro (Oct 18, 2009)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> The Italians should have notified the US military that they would be coming through a checkpoint. They would have received assistance and everything.



May be they were doing some more "black ops" for the Talibans...


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## timshatz (Oct 19, 2009)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> The Italians should have notified the US military that they would be coming through a checkpoint. They would have received assistance and everything.



Yup, clusterf*** from the start. Italians did a lousy job on that one.


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