Headline of the day:
Gurkha ordered back to UK after beheading dead Taliban fighter
Deadly: A platoon of Gurkhas demonstrate their skill with their kukri knives in a training exercise, after it is revealed that one of their regiment chopped off the head of a Taliban fighter in order to find proof of ID
…
A source said: ‘Removing the head in this way was totally inappropriate.’..
Via Milnews.ca. One gets the impression that the Daily Mail rather approves actually, sub rosa. Kukri images here. Earlier, about our comrades in arms in Afstan:
Gurkhas honoured by Canada
Soldiers from the Royal Gurkha Rifles have been honoured by the Canadian nation in recognition of their exceptional work fighting alongside the Canadian Armed Forces during a demanding deployment to Afghanistan…
Apparently ignored, natch, by our major media.
Update: Then there’s the Taliban approach (via TG):
‘Leave your job or we will cut your head off your body…’
With violence on the rise, Afghan women are terrified at the prospect of a deal between President Karzai and the Taliban
I think I know who the good guys are.
Upperdate: More good guys, Lauryn Oates, Alaina Podmorow and Terry Glavin:
The Dominion of Fear.
My brave comrade Lauryn Oates, writing in Butterflies and Wheels: “This fear is something that has deep roots in Canadian culture, perpetuated through academic institutions, the media, even the peace movement. It has long been fashionable in the halls of western arts faculties to view all the world through the lens of post-colonialism. In classrooms across the country students of political science, anthropology, literature and other disciplines learn to see the developing world as unflinchingly hostile to foreign interference, as the wounds of conquest by imperial powers continue to heal. Through this lens, universal values do not exist. Young Canadians are taught to challenge their own western perceptions and to be culturally sensitive [surely to Gurkha, er, cultural practices too--more from Adrian on sensitivity meaning squat]. Buzzwords like “ethnocentrism” abound, and all kinds of activities take on the metaphor of colonialism, whether international development projects or scientific research.”..
Up in the Okanagan Valley, 13-year-old Alaina Podmorow continues to do more for her Afghan sisters than the establishment “progressive” movement in Canada, combined, has managed to do…
My latest essay in the Calgary Herald, Majabeen is Unafraid:
Majabeen is dark-eyed, raven-haired and 17. She’s the oldest of the 29 girls at the Omid-e-mirmun orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is going to go to university to be a doctor…
Meanwhile, this certainly will not encourage Afghans against the Talibs:
Liam Fox: [UK] troops will leave Afghanistan by 2014
Mark
Ottawa
My Grandfather served along side Gurkhas in WW1. He said they were fearless in battle,and had this habit of going out after dark,behind enemy lines.
Once there they’d quietly cut the heads off a couple of German soldiers,then return to their lines. The officers said it was hell on enemy morale.
Beheading enemies is a fine Gurkha tradition, one I wouldn’t want to offend.
Please enlighten this old guy, would the Gurkas not screeching “allah ackbar” during the be-heading have been something of a cultural no-no?
Wasn’t this a habit in WW II as well? I rather gathered this is a Gurka signature. Sans, of course, the ‘allah ackbar’ – they’re Hindus.
Gurkhas, what the British called one of the “martial races” of the Indian subcontinent, are Hindu, no love lost with Muslims.
“…
Some Mystical Meaning of Khukuri:
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The notch of the Khukuri near the hilt is said the trident of the Hindu god Shiva, the god of war and destroy.”
Mark
Ottawa
Headless in Hellmand! What’s new?
All frontline troops out by 2014 – dream on dudes!! The Taleban are currently favourites and there is apparently a mad rush amongst locals to be associated with the winning side. Watch for ANOTHER brilliant new strategic plan. In desperation – Operation Headless = dropping the PC kind of war we’ve been fighting and letting ‘Bruce Willis’ in to maximize collateral damage. Enough of this kind of knicker-elastic warfare. Let the dogs loose on ‘em.
i would like to inform you that gurkhas are not hindu.Gurkhas are of mongoloid ethnic and follow other religions i.e. kirat, buddhist..
Actually Gurkhas or Gorkhas as they are called in India are essentially subcontinental in their culture and most of them are probably Hindu since Nepal is something like 90% Hindu. Most of them also speak Nepali and Hindi which can be useful in parts of AFG near the Pakistani border where people do know how to speak Urdu, which is similar to Hindi.