Essay Title Contest

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Ultimate insult? Taliban fighters mock iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photo, posing in seized US military gear

An elite unit of Taliban fighters, wearing US-made tactical gear they apparently captured from retreating Afghan forces, has posed for a propaganda photo, which many outraged Americans found to be the “ultimate insult.”
In a photo that ruffled many feathers, mostly among American conservatives, members of the Taliban’s commando unit Badri 313 are seen donning full camouflage and tactical gear, including night-vision goggles – seemingly recreating an iconic WWII photo of American troops raising the US flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

Taliban photo appears to mock Iwo Jima flag raising in latest propaganda push

When an armed group gets their hands on American-made weaponry, it’s sort of a status symbol,” Elias Yousif, deputy director at the Center for International Policy’s Security Assistance Monitor, told The Hill Thursday. “It’s a psychological win. ... Clearly, this is an indictment of the U.S. security cooperation enterprise broadly. It really should raise a lot of concerns about what is the wider enterprise that is going on every single day, whether that’s in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia.”

Yousif added that much of the equipment would likely go unused, given the group’s dearth of training when it comes to piloting a collection of aircraft that, as of July, included 45 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and four C-130 transport planes, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

“We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters last week.

“And obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.”

I have no problem with Biden removing us from Afghanistan, but I can’t understand why he did so in such a fck'd up way that has left tens of thousands of people in dire straits and billions of military equipment that they had to know would fall into the Taliban's hands. And possibly Russia’s and China’s were they will get to see all the bells and whistles that maybe they weren’t aware of.

Step 1- Remove people.
Step 2- Remove equipment.
Step 3- Remove troops.

That’s how I’d do it.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

the MIC is throwing him under the bus. They probably told him one thing while knowing something else, entirely, would take place. Bottom line - we're getting out - now if we'll stay out.....

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Lookout's picture

Look, the Taliban is just like the US Military!

The Headline I would like to see? Afghani's take over Afghanistan!

Edit to add a new thought:

We have met the enemy and he is us.

No matter how we left the country, it would be messy and heavily criticized by the warmongers. If we would only keep up withdrawing from...Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and so on. Unfortunately, I suspect this withdrawal is in order to reuse these troops more directly in a China conflict.

Edit to insert a little reality of this war from 2 vets...
Anti-war veterans explain how US lost Afghanistan while leaders lied, profited (56 min)
Two US veterans, Matthew Hoh and Daniel Sjursen, explain how the war in Afghanistan was lost, Afghans suffered, and military contractors profited -- all while the American public was kept in the dark.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bo7P_podIk]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Azazello's picture

It's still an open question whether or not he's the one who actually makes the decisions.
If you were a member of the oligarchy would you let him call the shots ?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3juv02Rw0j4 width:500 height:300]
At least they're not pushing the helicopters off carrier decks this time.
Maybe the Afghans can sell 'em or part 'em out to make a little money.
They'll have to be replaced, of course. The general who ordered them left on the ground is probably expecting a job with Sikorsky when he retires.

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

econoclast's picture

who sez the taliban have no sense of humor?

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That famous photo of the marines raising the flag on Mount Suribachi was actually semi-staged.
There was a flag raising maybe a couple hours before, but it was a much smaller flag, and it was interrupted by a grenade-throwing Japanese soldier, who forced the marines to flee.
There were no photos of this flag-raising that I am aware of.

They then sent for a larger flag, and the rest is history.

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lotlizard's picture

@gjohnsit

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Bollox Ref's picture

Reds Yevgeny Khaldei, Soviet soldiers raising the red flag over the Reichstag, May 1945.jpg

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

"Let's pay the US back for 20 years of slaughter in one photo!"

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

lotlizard's picture

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usefewersyllables's picture

That is all.

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.