The U.S., for the first time, uses the MOAB bomb....So what?

[Auld Phart]

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

So now the bombing was just "sending ISIS a message". For $300 million fucking dollars, they should be wiped off the face of the earth.

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

That's the number of bodies found so far.

moving thousands, if not millions, of tons of rock may bring more bodies to light

where does the equipment to move millions of tons of rock come from, the Afghan farmers?

(Marine to Mohammed)

Hey buddy, can I borrow a shovel ?

Who ever is interested in finding out exactly how many are under those tons of rock.

I doubt the US is even mildly curious

 

[Markle]

Seems like "overkill " so to speak . The Afghan government is not happy about it either.

The attitude that we have to use these weapons , just because they exist, is a dangerous and expensive one.

Wrong again.

"Gen. Daulat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, said 36 IS fighters were killed, and that the death toll could likely rise. He said Afghan forces were at the tunnel complex assessing the damage.

He said the bombing was necessary because the complex was extremely hard to penetrate, with some tunnels as deep as 40 meters (43 yards).

"It was a strong position and four times we had operations (attacking the site) and it was not possible to advance," he said, adding that the road leading to the complex 'was full of mines.'"

Read more: Afghanistan: Massive US bomb kills 36 Islamic State fighters

 

[Siete]

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

So now the bombing was just "sending ISIS a message". For $300 million fucking dollars, they should be wiped off the face of the earth.

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

That's the number of bodies found so far.

moving thousands, if not millions, of tons of rock may bring more bodies to light

where does the equipment to move millions of tons of rock come from, the Afghan farmers?

(Marine to Mohammed)

Hey buddy, can I borrow a shovel ?

Who ever is interested in finding out exactly how many are under those tons of rock.

I doubt the US is even mildly curious

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

 

[Auld Phart]

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

So now the bombing was just "sending ISIS a message". For $300 million fucking dollars, they should be wiped off the face of the earth.

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

That's the number of bodies found so far.

moving thousands, if not millions, of tons of rock may bring more bodies to light

where does the equipment to move millions of tons of rock come from, the Afghan farmers?

(Marine to Mohammed)

Hey buddy, can I borrow a shovel ?

Who ever is interested in finding out exactly how many are under those tons of rock.

I doubt the US is even mildly curious

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

Be sure to link that claim when he does.

 

[Siete]

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

So now the bombing was just "sending ISIS a message". For $300 million fucking dollars, they should be wiped off the face of the earth.

36 ISIS fighters killed???? Out of 600 to 800 which the US military said were there?

That's the number of bodies found so far.

moving thousands, if not millions, of tons of rock may bring more bodies to light

where does the equipment to move millions of tons of rock come from, the Afghan farmers?

(Marine to Mohammed)

Hey buddy, can I borrow a shovel ?

Who ever is interested in finding out exactly how many are under those tons of rock.

I doubt the US is even mildly curious

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

Be sure to link that claim when he does.

President Trump on Thursday hailed the military's "very, very successful" strike on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, after the first-ever deployment of America's largest non-nuclear bomb -- known as the MOAB.

Trump hails 'very successful' MOAB strike on ISIS in Afghanistan

 

[Auld Phart]

That's the number of bodies found so far.

moving thousands, if not millions, of tons of rock may bring more bodies to light

where does the equipment to move millions of tons of rock come from, the Afghan farmers?

(Marine to Mohammed)

Hey buddy, can I borrow a shovel ?

Who ever is interested in finding out exactly how many are under those tons of rock.

I doubt the US is even mildly curious

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

Be sure to link that claim when he does.

President Trump on Thursday hailed the military's "very, very successful" strike on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, after the first-ever deployment of America's largest non-nuclear bomb -- known as the MOAB.

Trump hails 'very successful' MOAB strike on ISIS in Afghanistan

Missed where Trump says "thousands Isis soldiers were killed"

Care to point it out?

 

[Godboy]

It's coming over the news that the U.S. forces for the first time, so we're told, dropped the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) on one (several?) ISIS positions in Afghanistan. So what? Why does anyone need to know that? The whole world knows that the U.S. is actively fighting ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan. It should not come as a surprise that the U.S. drops bombs there, big ones, little ones, and in-between ones.

Do you really give a damn what specific munitions the U.S. uses? Do you just care that U.S. forces have and use the appropriate munition for the situation they face? The latter is all I care about. I don't care what type of conventional weapons U.S. forces use in combat.

I'm wondering why the hell we'd advertise that we've dropped the most destructive/powerful bomb in our inventory. If there were any doubt in our opponents' mind about the force limit of our bombs, well, now they need no longer wonder. The problem with that is that now that we've told everyone that we used the MOAB, anyone to whom it matters knows what they must do to protect themselves from it. Better, IMO, to have just dropped the thing and discussed the results it achieved. There's no need to disclose that we dropped the "biggest, baddest" bomb we have.

The plan to use a MOAB at this location was being planned months ago during Obama's administration. They used the MOAB because our other drone and bomb strikes werent collapsing the tunnels.

 

[Godboy]

We've been told how difficult it is to fight the enemy because they are hiding in caves, blah blah blah. So, it turns out we have a bomb that will destroy their hidey holes. I'm left wondering why this bomb wasn't used years ago.

The military has been using similar weapons for this type of target for years (thermobaric fuel-air bombs) apparently they broke out the MOAB 'cause P-Don needed a bump in his approval ratings with the warhawk crowd in Washington.

Prove that Trump did it for "approval ratings".

If they've used this sort of bomb before and it was somewhat successful, using the bigger one was the obvious thing to do. That is, if you want to win the war. You know, and bring home our troops.

prove he didn't.

The plan to use a MOAB at this location was being planned months ago during Obama's administration. They used the MOAB because our other drone and bomb strikes werent collapsing the tunnels.

Here's the proof you were asking for...

US drops 'mother of all bombs' on ISIS forces in Afghanistan

 

[Markle]

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

Your panic and desperation are duly noted.

Now, get accustomed to winning!

 

[Markle]

The plan to use a MOAB at this location was being planned months ago during Obama's administration.

I looked but did not find your source or link.

Please provide is with your source and link so that we may see that petulant former President Barack Hussein Obama authorized the plan to use the MOAB. Thank you so much!

 

[IsaacNewton]

By the way the allies used a 22,000 lb bomb during WW2. This isn't new by any stretch.

Grand Slam (bomb) - Wikipedia

 

[dannyboys]

How else do you destroy an extensive underground tunnel and cave system being used by the enemy as a base of operations to carry out their regime of obscene terror? These are bad guys, dammit, who have invaded our peace and the peace of most of the Western world. Do you really not want them gone?

Trump's military top brass felt it was appropriate and they no doubt ran it by Trump, who said do what you gotta do.

I don't have a problem with using the MOAB to destroy said installations and the users of them. As I noted in my OP, I didn't even need to be told that they used the MOAB.

I have a problem with there being, subsequent to doing so, no credible and believable messages being issued that show why doing so was prioritized and highlighted over completing the defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq where it is far stronger than it is in Afghanistan and where we've for some two years or so been hearing, almost daily, that is where the ISIS problem is most pressing. I'm sure there are reasons, they may well be good reasons -- the preemptive one I posited early may be one and may be others -- but whatever they are, we who pay for all of what our military does, deserve an explanation for why, out of the blue, converting a mountain in Afghanistan into a pile of gravel is suddenly so important.

The news, since the event, has been babbling about "shows of strength" as a message to the DPRK and others. Well, you know what? Was there ever any credible basis for doubting the U.S.' military strength and capability? After all, the U.S. spends as much as on our military the next six or seven most powerful militaries on the planet. Unless someone can show me that all that "excess" spending goes to labor (or is entirely wasted, which, frankly, is even less plausible), administration, and maintenance rather than materiel and equipment, there's no reason to think the U.S. military is insufficiently powerful.

Is criticizing every decision made under the Trump administration more important to you than getting rid of ISIS/terrorism?

No.

we have to start actually fighting in order to win.

I agree with that. I don't know whether I concur that my government's decision to bomb a mountain in A-stan and than convert having done so into publicity "stunt" has, from a priorities standpoint, has much to do with actually winning against ISIS when all we've heard is that ISIS is strongest in Iraq and Syria. The fact of the matter is that bomb -- MOAB's official meaning is "Massive Ordnance Air Blast" -- is equally effective against targets that aren't bunkered in a mountain. I want to know why we didn't use it to utterly eradicate an ISIS position in one of the two places where, by all reports, we actually need to see ISIS "gone" sooner rather than later.

Ready for the answer?
B/c the fucking ISIS sub-humans always make sure to surround themselves with hundreds of women and children. They are literally insane with hate.
Like the assholes at MSNBC are.
If they were real men they wouldn't hide behind women and children.
Same with Hamas/Hezbollah.
The scum must be exterminated from the earth before they get a nuclear weapon.

 

[dannyboys]

It's coming over the news that the U.S. forces for the first time, so we're told, dropped the Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) on one (several?) ISIS positions in Afghanistan. So what? Why does anyone need to know that? The whole world knows that the U.S. is actively fighting ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan. It should not come as a surprise that the U.S. drops bombs there, big ones, little ones, and in-between ones.

Do you really give a damn what specific munitions the U.S. uses? Do you just care that U.S. forces have and use the appropriate munition for the situation they face? The latter is all I care about. I don't care what type of conventional weapons U.S. forces use in combat.

I'm wondering why the hell we'd advertise that we've dropped the most destructive/powerful bomb in our inventory. If there were any doubt in our opponents' mind about the force limit of our bombs, well, now they need no longer wonder. The problem with that is that now that we've told everyone that we used the MOAB, anyone to whom it matters knows what they must do to protect themselves from it. Better, IMO, to have just dropped the thing and discussed the results it achieved. There's no need to disclose that we dropped the "biggest, baddest" bomb we have.

Well it used to be that 1000 lb bombs dropped from a B-52 were the most powerful.

But the USA and Russia have now topped that with the 10,000 lb MOAB's.

Bad news for anyone on the ground.

The MOAB is being used like a bunker buster for caves.

Just means that the tunnel rats are no longer safe in their rat holes.

I suspect everyone is afraid to employ a tactical nuke -- although one of these would work ever better -- forming a huge glowing crater where a mountain used to be.

It doesn't bother me that we used the MOAB. Truly, I don't too much care what conventional munitions we use to accomplish our military objectives. I discussed in my response to OldLady the two things about which I have questions, perhaps reservations though I don't know enough information about the set of circumstances involved to know yet whether I have reservations.

In my response to OldLady, I focused mainly on the prioritization aspect and briefly remarked upon the publicity aspect, but make no mistake, I find it heinously reprehensible that my government might drop a bomb to make a publicity opportunity out of it, yet it seems that may be what was done. I am sorry, but even as I value ISIS lives far less than I do most all others, the fact remains that they are living breathing humans, and they deserve more than just being used, destroyed, for publicity purposes....not much more, but more nonetheless.

They are NOT human beings! They are sub-human animals who would cut your head off and rape your children then dismember them the first chance they got.
You REALLY need to wise up to reality asshole!

 

[Siete]

where does the equipment to move millions of tons of rock come from, the Afghan farmers?

(Marine to Mohammed)

Hey buddy, can I borrow a shovel ?

Who ever is interested in finding out exactly how many are under those tons of rock.

I doubt the US is even mildly curious

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

Be sure to link that claim when he does.

President Trump on Thursday hailed the military's "very, very successful" strike on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, after the first-ever deployment of America's largest non-nuclear bomb -- known as the MOAB.

Trump hails 'very successful' MOAB strike on ISIS in Afghanistan

Missed where Trump says "thousands Isis soldiers were killed"

Care to point it out?

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

 

[Auld Phart]

Who ever is interested in finding out exactly how many are under those tons of rock.

I doubt the US is even mildly curious

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

Be sure to link that claim when he does.

President Trump on Thursday hailed the military's "very, very successful" strike on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, after the first-ever deployment of America's largest non-nuclear bomb -- known as the MOAB.

Trump hails 'very successful' MOAB strike on ISIS in Afghanistan

Missed where Trump says "thousands Isis soldiers were killed"

Care to point it out?

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

Is there a dictionary, or a table, for these conversions you make?

 

[Siete]

Trump will say thousands Isis soldiers were killed, his drones will buy it, suck his dick, and it'll all be over.

Be sure to link that claim when he does.

President Trump on Thursday hailed the military's "very, very successful" strike on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, after the first-ever deployment of America's largest non-nuclear bomb -- known as the MOAB.

Trump hails 'very successful' MOAB strike on ISIS in Afghanistan

Missed where Trump says "thousands Isis soldiers were killed"

Care to point it out?

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

Is there a dictionary, or a table, for these conversions you make?

ahyup, same thousands that were dancing on rooftops after 911 ... GOT EM !

 

[usmbguest5318]

You realize I wasn't responding to you, right?

No, I didn't. Thanks for clarifying that.

The news, since the event, has been babbling about "shows of strength" as a message to the DPRK and others.

That might be some people's "read" on the situation, but I don't believe that is why it was used. Pundits will spin and try to find interesting stuff to say about any piece of news, but I don't find it important.

It's not implausible that that be among the primary motives for the MOAB bombing, and the government hasn't, as far as I've heard or seen, refuted the notion that it was. The Pentagon has been surprisingly mum about the whole matter. Even the announcement that the MOAB was used came from the WH, which alone suggests that "messaging," domestic politics and publicity are major drivers to the event.

no credible and believable messages being issued that show why doing so was prioritized and highlighted over completing the defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq where it is far stronger than it is in Afghanistan

My understanding (and I could be wrong) was that the war in Afghanistan has been going longer and that we have more troops there than in Iraq and Syria. I keep hearing reports now and then that the terrorist activity is growing. It seems we have had more troops in Afghanistan killed recently than in Iraq or Syria. So I'm not sure why Afghanistan as a theater of operations should have any less emphasis than Iraq and Syria. Perhaps we should learn our lesson from ignoring ISIS when it first got a foothold in Iraq. If it is now growing in Afghanistan, it might be a good idea to stop it now rather than later.

First, I want to be clear that, unlike many Americans, I don't consider any violent act by a Muslim or local in A-stan, Iraq, Syria, and other primarily Muslim countries to be terrorism. I say that because what's going on in A-stan is largely a conflict between the government there and the Taliban, which mostly is a band of loosely aligned pastorally provincial "warlords" of sorts battling over relatively small discrete "turfs" and against the central government's authority over them, which is the source of their alignment. The Taliban are not terrorist threats to the U.S. and they and ISIS do not see eye-to-eye.

What may well be happening in A-stan is that ISIS is trying to establish a foothold amidst the chaos resulting from the conflict there, much as they did in Syria and Iraq. A-stan, though it does have a central government, culturally is essentially a feudal society, and that inherently creates an opportunity for ISIS to insinuate itself there as it seeks refuge from Syria and Iraq. In light of that, the preemptive aspect makes tactical and strategic sense.

If you ask me, it's quite plausible that there is legitimate purpose to bombing ISIS in A-stan. That there is and that Trump concurs it's "worth it," however, represents a dramatic reversal in Trump's position, a reversal that essentially aligns with the position of the prior Administration. As goes Trump himself, I don't mind that he's changed his mind; I mind that he's not openly owning the fact that he has. I also mind the spin he's putting on it.

As for why we are fighting in A-stan, well, the reasons have evolved over time, but the primary reason for the past few years is to help the central government get control of the place. Initially we sought that end roughly as an aspect of nation building -- it's not that the nation being "built" wasn't already present and favorable to the U.S.; it was that its government was (and still is) too weak to hold its own against all comers -- and because Al Qaeda was hunkered down there and the Afghan government was powerless to do anything about it. In more recent years, however, it's more about quelling the chaos that the Afghan government cannot and which provides openings for ISIS.

Note:

The U.S. doesn't innately have a political issue with the Taliban. We did, after all, aid and abet them in their fight against the USSR. The problem with the Taliban is that they are too loosely confederated to constitute a strong enough government that can deny "comfort" to organizations like ISIS. Even being of a mind to deny groups like ISIS a place in the country, they lack the means to stop them.

That left the U.S. having to choose between two weak groups that want control over A-stan: the Taliban and the central government. In my mind, that's an easy "top level" choice; go with the central government because the alternative is to try collaborating with 50 to 100 feudal warlords who don't particularly get along all that well among themselves and who don't see any value in caring about what goes on outside their little corner of the world.

At the end of the day and as goes other nations, the U.S. wants and needs one thing above all others: stable governments that have control of their respective countries and that aren't lead by "nut jobs." The U.S. government does not and never has really been all that bothered by what foreign governments do so long as they aren't physically attacking the U.S. and have control over their own lands.

China is a fine example of that. For all our outcry about human rights, the fact of the matter is that China is very stable. Take the Xinjiang province in China. The people there are culturally more like the "Stans" (any of them not just Afghans) than they are like Han Chinese, yet one doesn't find Taliban or ISIS groups taking refuge in Xinjiang. That's because the central government in China isn't having it. That works for the U.S. and is more important than is whatever other issues our government may have with the PRC government. (Make no mistake, U.S.-China "issues" are governmental. Chinese citizens, the "rank and file," are wholly enamoured with Americans and pretty much anyone else. They are actually very pleasant people.)​

 

[Auld Phart]

Be sure to link that claim when he does.

President Trump on Thursday hailed the military's "very, very successful" strike on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, after the first-ever deployment of America's largest non-nuclear bomb -- known as the MOAB.

Trump hails 'very successful' MOAB strike on ISIS in Afghanistan

Missed where Trump says "thousands Isis soldiers were killed"

Care to point it out?

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

Is there a dictionary, or a table, for these conversions you make?

ahyup, same thousands that were dancing on rooftops after 911 ... GOT EM !

Can't find a link to back you up, so you make up something.

When that fails, you enter fantasy land.

 

[danielpalos]

The right wing prefers to engender the Hellish conditions of warfare on Earth on a for-profit basis.

The alt-left is making a motion for "regime change EBT cards" to prove we have the Best form of Socialism in the Entire World.

We could have won in Vietnam with, "our socialism is better than theirs".

 

[Siete]

President Trump on Thursday hailed the military's "very, very successful" strike on ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, after the first-ever deployment of America's largest non-nuclear bomb -- known as the MOAB.

Trump hails 'very successful' MOAB strike on ISIS in Afghanistan

Missed where Trump says "thousands Isis soldiers were killed"

Care to point it out?

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

one very = hundreds

two verys = thousands

Is there a dictionary, or a table, for these conversions you make?

ahyup, same thousands that were dancing on rooftops after 911 ... GOT EM !

Can't find a link to back you up, so you make up something.

When that fails, you enter fantasy land.

look boi, lightn' up ... apparently sarcastic humor escapes you so go insult someone else.