[GZG] Grossly Off-topic ANZAC Whining, was Re: [OFFICIAL] GZG: FREEBIE OFFER FOR BFPO/APO TROOPS!

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Lots of whine, whine, whine.

OK, you Aussies and Canucks can shut the fuck up now and get over
yourselves.

The US has 150,000 troops in Iraq and 32,000 in Afghanistan, more or
less.  The UK has roughly 6,000 but that's changing, plus another
8,500 in Afghanistan.  Georgia (the Republic that most folks couldn't
find on a map) has over 2,000 men in Iraq.

In raw numbers, the Poles (2,300 in Iraq, 1,100 in Afghanistan) are
about even with you all combined, are in a more dangerous sector,
fight harder, and get far less credit in the American public's eyes or
media attention.

For percentage of your military deployed, you're behind such major
powers as Tonga, most of whose Marine Corps guards the al-Faw Palace.

Canadians. . . pulling your share?  Your military is undersized
compared to either your population or your economy (normal for NATO
nations other than the US--since we subsidize your national security),
and the 2,500 men in Afghanistan is less than the Germans and on a par
with the Italians.

Aussies?  Used to be roughly the same contribution as South Korea, 850
men counting all sorts of support and HQ folks.  But all but roughly
300 have been withdrawn as of 02 JUN 08, and what's left are largely
headquarters and support folks.  1,100 are in Afghanistan counting air
traffic controllers and so forth.

For comparison, Denmark is smaller than most American states (and some
counties in Texas) and has 690 men in Afghanistan.

As for credit, you don't think you get any?  The only way American
Soldiers get noticed is by getting killed or by misbehaving badly
enough to get arrested.  The state of your average American's
knowledge of actions in Iraq or Afghanistan is pretty minimal.	It is
largely formed by older news stories (I needn't cite the studies
showing media coverage dropping off in the past two years) which were
at best slanted, and at worst utterly fictional.  Case in point would
be the so-called "massacre" in Haditha, where as it turns out, the
only source used in the initial media reporting was an al-Qaeda in
Iraq operative.  The reporter refused to even interview any member of
the Marine Corps or visit the base before running the story.  Compare
the number of stories run on SFC Paul Smith vs. the number of stories
run on some stupid photos of a Reservist prision guard PFC.

If your nation is fighting for good press in the United State's
mainstream media, you need to switch sides and start killing US
troops, because that's the only people the MSM really supports.

John
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again.  We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani

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