Get That Upya Terry Taliban

Today marks the anniversary of the World Trade Centre attacks. I remember seeing it on TV here at about 7am and thinking it was a hoax . . .2,974 people died in the attacks. Some I knew of because we deal with bankers and fund managers. Another 24 are missing and presumed dead. This single event rocked the world.

Seven years later the Whitehouse Website reports:

• 50 million people have been liberated, and two totalitarian regimes have been removed;
• The al Qaeda network has been weakened;
• We have not experienced another attack on American soil;
• Our military has been transformed to meet the challenges of the 21st century;
• We have expanded our intelligence capabilities to confront today's enemy; and
• We have created new and essential institutions needed to wage the War on Terror, including the Department of Homeland Security and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Let's put it into perspective:

Casualties in Afghanistan:

Afghan troops killed:

8,587

Afghan troops seriously injured:

25,761

Afghan civilians killed:

3,485

Afghan civilians seriously injured:

6,273

U.S. troops killed:

513

U.S. troops seriously injured:

1,539

Other coalition troops killed:

433

Other coalition troops seriously injured:

1,299

Contractors killed:

75

Contractors seriously injured:

2,428

Journalists killed:

6

Journalists seriously injured:

unknown

Total killed in Afghanistan:

13,099

Total injured in Afghanistan:

37,300

Casualties in Iraq:

Iraqi troops killed:

30,000

Iraqi troops seriously injured:

90,000

Iraqi civilians killed:

638,579

Iraqi civilians seriously injured:

1,149,442

U.S. troops killed:

4,154

U.S. troops seriously injured:

30,324

Other coalition troops killed:

176

Other coalition troops seriously injured:

528

Contractors killed:

917

Contractors seriously injured:

10,569

Journalists killed:

154

Journalists seriously injured:

unknown

Total killed in Iraq:

673,980

Total injured in Iraq:

1,280,863

Source: http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html

Whilst I do not support the invasion of Iraq by the coalition of the willing, I do support the invasion of Afghanistan. Whatever, it's a done deal and there seems to be a modicum of order very slowly returning to Iraq. Today Iraqi president Talibani stated

"Now I can say all parts of Iraq liberated from terrorist control and activities. It's true that some groups remain hiding themselves from here or there, but there's no place, no inch of Iraqi land under the control of terrorist activities. There are some terrorist -- still groups working -- hiding themself, and thanks to you and sacrifice of your brave army and to Iraqi people, now we can live in peace and security."

And I think there is little doubt across the planet that the dispatching of Saddam Hussein was a good thing.

Six years after being driven out of Afghanistan, Brown Heroin is hitting the streets of Australia in cheap and epic proportions (and I suspect many other nations). Afghanistan being the source of the illicit drug. Suicide bombing, not a traditional Taliban method of causing damage, has become more frequent The increasing use of very public attacks has had a striking effect on morale far beyond the immediate victims

The Taliban are demonstrating overt resilience to the allies best attempts to drive them out of Afghanistan and have a steady stream of income from the opium trade.

Most women are still wearing the bhurka (and this word does not exist in Blogger spellcheck!)

Osama Bin Laden is no longer the enemy . . .I don't think we really know who is.

Vale to those who died in the tragedy of September 11, remember those currently who have given their lives or are still fighting, or working, in two very difficult warzones, one of which should never happened. We are a small country in terms of population and have been very fortunate in terms of casualties but we are proud of our soldiers. It's a shit job but someone has to do it. Counsel those who come home and give them a proper debriefing (unlike the sad chain of events that followed Vietnam - history is written by the victors).

War is Hell. I have nothing more to say. Except, Aussies do it with humour! Get that up ya Terry Taliban! It's a poor video but he's such an Aussie!