Hi Tom,

Pardon your Belgian?!!!!

Are you just trying to tick Raoul off?

You know he hates profanity in posts!

You are trying to... aren't you?

Now...behave yourself Tom ;-)

Save the gloating until we are sure we've got Bin Laden.

For that matter let's wait until after Iraq....and Sudan...and North Korea ;-)

And there have been more than four combat casualties. The folks who died in the pre-special forces arrival will never be listed or 'counted' - but off the top of my head I would 'guess' we lost about 19 in the early reconnaissance and strategic acquisitions stage.

Yes, we are doing very well. And technology is not the only reason for this success. The Russkies have helped us 'Bigtime' in reclaiming their old infrastructure for waging war against afghanistan - combined with Bush's Teddy R. approach:

"It's best if you can avoid hitting altogether - but if you do hit - make sure you don't hit softly."

But anyone who has had a gun pointed in their face with someone ready to pull the trigger - learns that war and combat are not anything to gloat about.

Nor can one relish the hose of bullets or the bombs as big as cars.

The best soldiers aren't the ones who want to see as much red as possible - but are the ones who do their job unemotionally without hatred pulling the trigger nor guilt.

That's a pretty tall order.

These Taliban folks are very ignorant. They have had almost no schooling and under the Taliban the women have had none. Their like grown up children running around with guns and grenade launchers.

They are fighting like wildcats in the caves...as expected. However our night vision stuff works well in caves too.

The tougher battles, with tougher opponents, still lie ahead...

Take care Tom,

SDAI-Tech1