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East Tennesseans or Pashtuns? You Make the Call!
October 20, 2009 | Posted by Abu Muqawama - 12:14pm | 21 Comments
One of the world's brighter young Afghanistan scholars sent me an email asking if this was a movie about Pashtuns. Because all us mountain people fight over the same three things: land, women, honor. Often the three are related.
.. that be civilised like
.. that be civilised like compared to where I come from...Looks good
Looks good
Fer yer Pashtunz, ya got's:
Fer yer Pashtunz, ya got's: "Me'n my brothas against my couzinz, me'n my cousinz against d'world.
Y'all got dat in yer Tenasee hillz?
Something quite similar,
Something quite similar, indeed.you missed out liquor and/or
you missed out liquor and/or cannabis.
you missed out liquor and/or
you missed out liquor and/or cannabis.
And/or pick-up trucks.
We don't mess with any of that nonsense down in middle TN--all our riling up is saved for them Alabamans.
And football, of course.
And football, of course. Land, women, honor, and football.
On a purely unrelated note,
On a purely unrelated note, does anyone happen to know a talent agency specializing in Pashto voice actors or a lawyer familiar with media distribution rights?
It would be interesting to
It would be interesting to see the welcome the Iranian Army would get if they started setting up bases on the Cumberland Plateau. If you were the Iranian McChrystal, what kind of COIN strategy would you reccommend?
Lurk, I'd recommend to him
Lurk, I'd recommend to him to outlaw beer, the baptist church, and football. Potential insurgents in the area would have nothing to rally around.
Speaking as a western North
Speaking as a western North Carolinian by birth, while the analogy with Pushtunistan might have been valid a century or more ago, it no longer is. These days, far too many hillbillies are way too fat and lazy to be much worth much as guerrilla fighters. And they've never been too amenable to discipline anyway. It's the Scotch-Irish curse.
"Lurk, I'd recommend to him
"Lurk, I'd recommend to him to outlaw beer, the baptist church, and football."
Cue a bloodbath insurgency in the hills and forests to make the Iraqi insurgency look like an exercise in civil disobedience.
Mr. Exum: Since you are from
Mr. Exum:
Since you are from East Tennessee, you probably have kin who worked in the coal fields. If not, you certainly would have known people from your community who did. Assuming you are familiar with coal field history from say 1910 to 1970, could you explain the similarity, if any, between the company town system (company store, company house, company doctor, company hospital, ect.) and the infrastructure projects in Afghanistan; the War on Poverty (Vista, the Appalachian Regional Commission, etc.) and the NGOs in Afghanistan; the gun-thugs, such as the Baldwin-Felts detectives, ect. and the private security contractors in Afghanistan; the corrupted sheriffs, judges, prosecutors, ect., and our Afghans, such as Karzai and his associates; the UMWA and the Taliban; the outside agitators, such as Mother Jones and the Wobblelys, and the outside agitators in Afghanistan such as AQ, the Pakastani intelligence agents, and the Iranian intelligence agents; and the US military, such as the troops under the command of Billy Mitchell at the battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, and the US military in Afghanistan.
Since the miners never co-operated, why do you think any of the groups in Afghanistan will? Since no good came to the miners and their communities, why do you thing any good will come to Afghanistan from our efforts?
I'm not gonna see it, but my
I'm not gonna see it, but my votes for Hal Holbrooke. Just because that ignorant drunk wigger is on food stamps. And being rude to an old man.
Hal just shoulda shot him dead.
On another note..."Lurk, I'd recommend to him to outlaw beer, the baptist church, and football."
Cue a bloodbath insurgency in the hills and forests to make the Iraqi insurgency look like an exercise in civil disobedience." Yes indeed Lurk. One question --OK. Who let Bremer back in as Redneck Czar?
@520 Visitor - the difference being perhaps that the East TN's weren't bombing civilians in NYC, London, DC and all over the place else. Oh and for the rest of the analogies - it's the difference between Decaf and Crack.
I say we nominate East TN as the new Vietnam. Example: "These Town Hall meetings? It's just like East Tennesee. " "The villainy of the Vineyards and Defense Minister Tully in the Grand Fenwick grape blight riots? It's just like East Tennesse."
Elf the redneck: I don't
Elf the redneck:
I don't expect someone who isn't a hillbilly of a certain age from the coalfields to understand the reference. My post was directed specifically to Mr. Exum, who may understand it.
Although you might not be aware of it, there was a war in the 20's between the miners, the companies, their hired guns, various state and local police departments, and the United States Army. One of the Union leaders was tried and acquited of treason for his involvement in the Battle of Blair Mountain.
What happened there was an insurgency. I don't pretend to claim that it mirrows in any sense what is going on in Afghanistan, except that both COIN and CT tactics were used unsuccesfully to tamp it down. Even though the shooting stoped, there was no accomodation until 1990. Mr. Exum may know both. But he seems to think that it will somehow be easier to win the hearts and minds of the hillbilles of Afghanistan than his neighbors. montani semper liberi
You should check out this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwEMIvDEFy4
You might be surprized as to how it is relevant to what is sometimes discussed on this site.
Visitor - OK thanks for
Visitor - OK thanks for clarification. I was aware of the problems between the coal miners, company men, union men...etc. Not really an expert on it. There may indeed be lessons. Thank you for clarifying you do realize the difference in intensity.
I really doubt that any of the parties you name would think of going to the places the Talib and AQ go.
The fact that this war you referenced went 70 years (if I understand your timeline) indicates some level of support amongst the locals. Something the current enemy doesn't have. Because they go street gutter rat on meth crazy and blow it.
For instance, I doubt if I look at any of these battles I will find either side going into someones house to rape their wife and son then cut their heads off. So that was my Decaf/Crack snark. But I hear you.
The other point - and my major one - is that people who counsel they will never quit, they are always free, etc...seem to ignore with Orwellian blitheness is that we were attacked in our homes, on our soil. Afghanistan, Pakistan should have no feelings towards us at that time other than gratitude, as should Saudi.
And we should have nuked all of them out of existence - no really -- on 9/12/01. We didn't because of Liberal sensibilities. The very same that drive us to try and improve the lot of the people by turning them into Western Eurofags.
And if you're really looking for American insurgencies...
Oath Keepers
""The whole point of Oath Keepers is to stop a dictatorship from ever happening here," says founding father Stewart Rhodes, an ex-Army paratrooper and Yale-trained lawyer. "My focus is on the guys with the guns, because they can't do it without them."
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