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Written by Scott Taylor
13.12.11
Spinning on the Axis of Evil: America’s War against Iraq, an account of my 14 separate expeditions into Iraq, was first published in October 2003. With investigative trips occurring both before and after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the book painted a bleak outlook for the short-term future of that war-torn country.
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Written by Scott Taylor
12.10.11
Last Friday marked the 10th anniversary of George W. Bush’s fateful decision to invade Afghanistan. There was no United Nations resolution sought to sanction this military action. In the heady post-9/11 aftermath, Bush declared war on terrorism. As the Taliban regime was harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, America was invading Afghanistan in self-defence.
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Written by Scott Taylor
With the final handover to American forces last week, the Canadian combat mission in Kandahar has officially concluded.
While the mainstream media did their level best to mark the significance of our military ending the nearly decade-long counterinsurgency campaign, it was pretty difficult to generate much emotion.
Unlike the heady news of Germany and Japan surrendering in the Second World War, which set service members rejoicing in the streets and kissing strangers, the close-out in Kandahar was spectacularly anti-climatic.
The reason for this is that, short of us keeping our troops in Afghanistan to the arbitrary pullout date set by our Parliament in 2008, we did not actually achieve any concrete objective. Our NATO allies continue to battle the Taliban and insurgents and they are suffering the highest rate of casualties since the US-led intervention began in October 2001.
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Written by Scott Taylor
On the evening of June 28, the Taliban staged one of their most brazen attacks to date in the Afghan capital. For nearly four hours, nine heavily armed suicide bombers invaded the Inter-Continental hotel in the middle of Kabul, battling security forces and targeting foreign hotel guests.
After NATO helicopters and Special Forces operatives were deployed, the last of the wounded Taliban detonated his explosive vest, taking his own life and ending the bloody battle. It was estimated that 11 civilians were killed during the attack and several dozen more wounded, while all nine insurgents achieved their aim of dying in battle.
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Written by Scott Taylor
Last Wednesday evening, US President Barack Obama gave his much anticipated “draw down in Afghanistan” speech. Well prior to Obama’s address, the contents were widely circulated among the media, including a complete advance copy of his actual text.
Thus, it was no surprise to hear that the US will begin reversing their surge of combat troops between now and the American presidential elections in November 2012.
What was surprising was the fact that, for the first time since 9/11, Obama made clear the distinction between al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Ever since the US invaded the Taliban-controlled portion of Afghanistan in October 2001 in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, the two entities have been deliberately blurred. When the wily Saudi Arabian terrorist mastermind eluded initial capture, the Afghan Taliban organization (which had provided a safe haven for his al-Qaeda movement) became the surrogate focus of the US and NATO military efforts.
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