|
New Troops, New Wheels, New World
Three developments in recent days:
New troops: Today, Turkish parliament backed the deployment of Turkish troops into Iraq by 358 votes, with 183 votes against, a day after the Turkish government decided to send up to 10,000 troops to help stabilize Iraq. Although these troops are planned for Sunni areas of Iraq, it doubtless makes Kurds and Kurdish officials in the Iraq governing council very nervous to have armed Turks around. As the Kurds are the only trustworthy allies we have in the area--and that includes Turkey--this makes me nervous, too.
New wheels: Earlier this week the Stryker brigade out of Ft. Lewis, Tacoma was officially made ready for deployment, perhaps in Iraq. The Strykers are a brand new fighting vehicle that are said to be tough and mobile--a cross between a tank and a Humvee. Although there are critics who call the vehicle a disaster and a boondoggle (they point to some failures in armor testing and also the lack of standardization with parts and transportation), I've talked to some guys in the brigade and they like their new toys. These guys have been tested at Forts Irwin and Yakima (the desert), Ft. Polk (the swamp), and South Korea (future shit spot). Now the Sunni Triangle?
New world: Finally--and most interesting--Serbia has volunteered to send troops to Afghanistan. That's right: the army that we bombed the hell out in the last war is signing up to fight beside us in this war. They say it is a way to show the world that they are not bad guys marching around behind the ethnic cleansing of Milosevic. I say, welcome aboard!
|
Linear Mode
