"A revolution is coming — a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough — But a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability."
Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States:
"Because I will never forget that the only reason that I’m standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn’t popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world."
Sometimes what's right isn't as important as what's profitable.
- Trey Parker and Matt Stone
“I'm not seeing any indication the Taliban pose any military threat to Afghanistan.”
--Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, February 26, 2004
NATO soldier killed in Musa Qala operation: Afghanistan
(AFP)
8 December 2007KABUL - A NATO soldier, two children and 12 ‘terrorists’ have been killed in the first day of an operation to retake the southern Afghan town of Musa Qala, the Afghan defence ministry said Saturday.
The operation involving the Afghan army and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) officially kicked off Friday afternoon although it had been building for weeks and some manoeuvres were already under way.
‘In this operation so far, 12 terrorists were killed, one captured and a number of weapons and ammunitions were seized,’ a defence ministry statement said.
‘And one ISAF soldier was killed as a result of a mine explosion,’ it said. An ISAF official confirmed the fatality but said the nationality of the soldier could not yet be released.
Two children in a vehicle in front of a Taleban patrol were also killed in a firefight, ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters.
Five other civilians in the car were wounded, he said, accusing the rebels of using the vehicle as a shield.
Musa Qala, in the opium-rich province of Helmand, has been in Taleban control since early February, when hundreds of the rebels stormed in and took over.
Azimi said it had become a base for ‘foreign terrorists.’
‘Hundreds of terrorists had massed there,’ he told reporters.
The extremist Taleban were removed from government in 2001 for harbouring Al Qaeda and are now waging an insurgency which they believe will put them back in power.
They have briefly captured several other district centres, overwhelming a weak police force, but have been ejected by international and Afghan troops after a few days.
