Datamining Afghan War Diary: Matching with media reports

[little grey rabbit]

I have many gripes with modernity, one of which is the completely fictional nature of modern war reporting. A particular nadir for me was a supposed bayonet charge by British troops in Southern Iraq. There have been some completely ridiculous stories of the Australian army in Afghanistan - I gave up collecting them after a while - which perhaps is a shame. But the feeling was that no one, ever, was going to be able to made accountable, so that it was a wasted effort.

The release of the Afghan War Diary does open a little window on to the inside. I was trying to google some key words that I remembered from the past.

One of them was this undated stories
http://www.perthnow.com.au/aussie-commandos-in-firefight/story-e6frg4nl-1111112280510
which allegedly was based on this, in greater detail
http://www.theage.com.au/national/a...s-brothers-in-arms-20090613-c6td.html?page=-1
I won't quote all but this incident

Lieutenant Kroon's men were tense before going into action, conscious that some could be killed, according to the report. On the eve of battle, he showed them a video of their earlier actions and played the Dire Straits song Brothers in Arms.

In pitch black on the night of July 12, the Dutch and Australians found themselves "fighting for their lives" — surrounded, out-numbered, their ammunition running out.

Help came from one of the most lethal weapons in the US arsenal: an AC-130 gunship, a modified Hercules aircraft armed with a 105-millimetre howitzer, 40-millimetre cannon and Gatling guns.

The problem, however, was that the Taliban were within 30 metres of the allies, who risked being hit by the US aircraft's withering fire as Lieutenant Kroon directed the air attack virtually onto his own position.

"The air around the two platoons was thick with shrapnel but the 40-millimetre and 105-millimetre shells launched by the aircraft had a devastating effect on the Taliban," the report says. It was also, it says, "a harrowing experience" for the allied troops.

The two units continued their advance, in a operation that continued for the next four days.

The Afghan Diary is online and can be searched, including by date range
I found this
http://beta.diarydig.org/id/6669167E-8505-4D33-BA17-FEE412CA2790/

DIRECT FIRE CF ANA FOB Tarin Kowt 2 CF WIA 1 ANA WIA
2006-06-11 18:23:00
Expand acronyms: Take care; definitions may be wrong.

Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force reported receiving Small arms fire from two compounds 15KM SW of Forward Operating Base Tycz. At 18:28 GMT, a Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force patrol received small arms fire from 2X compounds. Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force returned fire on both compounds. The enemy moved from the south compound and was engaged by Close Air Support consisting of 1X Gunship adapted from Hercules. 14x Enemy Killed in Action were reported. 1X Afghan National Army was Wounded in Action and was MEDEVACed to TK. Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force captured 1X Enemy Wounded in Action and an additional 3X Taliban surrendered to coalition forces. The detainees had Icom [brand of radio] radios and jihad letters in their possession. 2X enemy were still inside the compound and were being monitored by Close Air Support. 2x US MIL were Wounded in Action with Gun shot wounds and the injuries were not life threatening. Both patients were stabilized and at 00:12 GMT a Medical Evacuation was requested. The Medical Evacuation was approved as Military Message 06-12A which was W/U at 01:05 GMT from Kandahar Air Field, W/D at Kandahar Air Field and MC at 02:30 GMT. The Troops in Contact was declared over at 02:15 GMT.

I leave it to the individual to decide how well this matches media reports. But it might be interesting to compare how the conflict comes through in the media and to how it appears in the war diary.

Strangely, I haven't seen any media organization rush to fact check their previous stories.

 

[Big Les]

I have many gripes with modernity, one of which is the completely fictional nature of modern war reporting. A particular nadir for me was a supposed bayonet charge by British troops in Southern Iraq.

Do tell. This is already part of modern British army folklore, but I have no knowledge of the facts of the incident. Bayonets were certainly fitted regularly. Is it the definitition of 'bayonet charge' that you're querying?

As for the OP - there is clearly a separate report from which the article is drawn, since the AFGWD doesn't actually contain any of the quotes used, or even mention the Dutch CO. Whether that changes things, I don't know.

 

[WildCat]

What is the discrepancy?

 

[little grey rabbit]

Wildcat, that is up to the individual to judge

Do tell. This is already part of modern British army folklore, but I have no knowledge of the facts of the incident. Bayonets were certainly fitted regularly. Is it the definitition of 'bayonet charge' that you're querying?

As for the OP - there is clearly a separate report from which the article is drawn, since the AFGWD doesn't actually contain any of the quotes used, or even mention the Dutch CO. Whether that changes things, I don't know.

I believe it is the same as mentioned in the The Age/Dutch report. The date matches and does the use of the hercules.

As for bayonets in Iraq, there are a couple of stories, the MOD seems to have recycled them a bit

Here is one
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1168996/posts
Here is another
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article88661.ece

OUTNUMBERED British soldiers killed 35 Iraqi attackers in the Army’s first bayonet charge since the Falklands War 22 years ago.
The fearless Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders stormed rebel positions after being ambushed and pinned down.

Despite being outnumbered five to one, they suffered only three minor wounds in the hand-to-hand fighting near the city of Amara.

The battle erupted after Land Rovers carrying 20 Argylls came under attack on a highway.

After radioing for back-up, they fixed bayonets and charged at 100 rebels using tactics learned in drills.

enjoy

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

OUTNUMBERED British soldiers killed 35 Iraqi attackers in the Army’s first bayonet charge since the Falklands War 22 years ago.
The fearless Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders stormed rebel positions after being ambushed and pinned down.

Despite being outnumbered five to one, they suffered only three minor wounds in the hand-to-hand fighting near the city of Amara.

The battle erupted after Land Rovers carrying 20 Argylls came under attack on a highway.

After radioing for back-up, they fixed bayonets and charged at 100 rebels using tactics learned in drills.

Damn... that was the Argyll and Sutherlands Highlanders that did that? Frakkin A!

The Thin Red Line strikes again!

 

[WildCat]

Wildcat, that is up to the individual to judge

Have you found a discrepancy? Can you post it?

 

[little grey rabbit]

Have you found a discrepancy? Can you post it?

Wildcat, what part of this do you not understand? "Wildcat, that is up to the individual to judge"

Or is prospect of having to think for yourself to frightening to contemplate?

 

[WildCat]

Wildcat, what part of this do you not understand? "Wildcat, that is up to the individual to judge"

Or is prospect of having to think for yourself to frightening to contemplate?

So what did you judge to be a discrepancy? I couldn't find one in the example you posted.

 

[little grey rabbit]

So what did you judge to be a discrepancy? I couldn't find one in the example you posted.

Why throw my imitation pearls before very real swine?

Incidentally, I was looking for a mention of the current Australian war crimes story that took place 12 Feb 2009, where Australian special forces sprayed a compound and threw handgrenades into a room with sleeping children - killing a few.

As yet I can't find anything
http://www.diarydig.org/search/?sort=date&region=RC+SOUTH&date__gte=2009-02-11&p=4
raising the possibility that the Diary was "cleansed" a little before being "leaked"


I did find this, though

(FRIENDLY ACTION) SMALL UNIT ACTIONS RPT : 1 CIV WIA
2009-02-11 06:50:00
Expand acronyms: Take care; definitions may be wrong.

At 1120D* a Local National arrived at Sangar 2 of Forward Operating Base JACKSON with minor fragment injuries which were infected. The infection indicates the injuries were sustained in the last 24 hours. The Local National is a 14yo male. It is likely (but not confirmed) that he was injured during Observation Post DIESEL, although a exact location could not be determined. The Local National was brought to the District Centre by his uncle and after talking to them W Company has detemined that neither are affiliated with the Taliban. The Local National claims he was outside with a friend when they were caught by a strike from a helicopter(prob Attack helicopter). The other boy was killed. There is no further information on this casualty.1 Wounded afghan(Afghans) Local Civilian

You may notice that there was also someone killed in this action, although the official tally just has 1 civilian WIA.

I am currently seeing if I can find anything for Mark Donaldson's citation - so far, no luck.

 

[Mr.D]

I have many gripes with modernity, one of which is the completely fictional nature of modern war reporting

You're not suggesting that "pre-modern" war reporting was entirely free of fiction, are you?

 

[little grey rabbit]

You're not suggesting that "pre-modern" war reporting was entirely free of fiction, are you?

The difference is that modern war is moving into fantasy war, where the imbalance of forces is so great that all we have are low-level hit and run insurgencies that are misleadingly presented as battles on WW2 models. While a lot of bollocks was surely written about D-Day, D-Day was real.

The only other alternative would be to run a conflict like in the Balkans where there is an international arbiter that unilaterally restrains the militarily more power party (ie the Serbs - can't use aircraft, must allow a military supply route into Sarajevo beneath the airport etc) but withholds imposing a settlement until enough celebrities and NGOs have paraded around in Sarajevo.

As someone in Sarajevo once told me: "If the UN ever turns up in your town, run"

 

[Mr.D]

The difference is that modern war is moving into fantasy war, where the imbalance of forces is so great that all we have are low-level hit and run insurgencies that are misleadingly presented as battles on WW2 models. While a lot of bollocks was surely written about D-Day, D-Day was real.

So "modernity" in the context of the OP refers to the existence of WMD and a lack of multiple superpowers which has changed the nature of war? Or to the internet-era embedded reporters and such changing the nature of reporting?

I'm genuinely trying to understand where "modernity" fits into the OP.

 

[little grey rabbit]

So "modernity" in the context of the OP refers to the existence of WMD and a lack of multiple superpowers which has changed the nature of war? Or to the internet-era embedded reporters and such changing the nature of reporting?

I'm genuinely trying to understand where "modernity" fits into the OP.

You are over-analyzing it.

I have many gripes with modernity: I don't like facebook, texting abbreviations, emoticons, american college students, types of technology that begin with "i" and many other things. But they have only tangential connections with the afghan war diary and what I see as the fraudulent nature of modern war reporting.

 

[Virus]

Little Grey Rabbit, you haven't made a bit of sense in this whole thread.

You found a website that disagrees with media reoprting on the Afghan war, but you can't tell us how it does that or why. But you can tell us that you don't like Facebook.

Don't you believe in the Illuminati or something?

 

[Travis]

What do you have against American College students?

 

[Virus]

What do you have against American College students?

He doesn't like modernity. He doesn't need no book learnin'.

 

[Big Les]

Wildcat, that is up to the individual to judge



I believe it is the same as mentioned in the The Age/Dutch report. The date matches and does the use of the hercules.

As for bayonets in Iraq, there are a couple of stories, the MOD seems to have recycled them a bit

Here is one
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1168996/posts
Here is another
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article88661.ece



enjoy

Yes, I'm aware of the story. In what way is it 'fictional', as you put it?

 

[little grey rabbit]

Little Grey Rabbit, you haven't made a bit of sense in this whole thread.

You found a website that disagrees with media reoprting on the Afghan war, but you can't tell us how it does that or why. But you can tell us that you don't like Facebook.

Don't you believe in the Illuminati or something?

No, unfortunately the Illuminati seem to believe in me, to my detriment.

 

[little grey rabbit]

What do you have against American College students?

I don't like them, particularly the ones that spend time helping disabled children ride horses and then somehow end up getting entrance to Yale or Harvard.

Is it like the modern version of the masonic handshake? Haven't disabled children suffered enough?

 

[The Fool]

sigh...if an assault goes in and the troops happen to have fixed bayonettes it hardly makes it a bayonette charge.