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real trouble spot in afghanistan, perhaps one of the most dangerous places in this country where marines said they couldn't leave their base without getting shot at. they were getting regularly mortared, there were ieds placed on the roads on an almost daily basis, and they were ruing their lives -- losing their lives in a fierce fight in marjah. that fight has all but ended aaccording to the marines, and we walked down the street with the general, he's a four-star, and he did not wear his kevlar flak jacket or helmet. he said he didn't need it. there was plenty of security there, but the general saying the atmosphere has increased dramatically, security has increased dramatically, and the sense among the people is that things are a lot better. here's a little bit of what the general told me earlier today. >> this is exactly what i think the spirit of america is and what we're trying to do, trying to help the people of this country help themselves. >> reporter: is it realistic to think that this is a sign of things to come, and this is the future of afghanistan?
visiting as many as six different bases saying thanks to those on the front lines. rick leventhal streaming live from helmand province, afghanistan. >> reporter: this is actually the seventh combat outpost or forward operating base that the general, general james amos, has visited on this single day alone, and he's not done yet. there are several more on the schedule tomorrow. it's an exhausting journey, but the general sticking to his commitment to visit personally with as many as the 20 -- as many of the 20,000 marines on the ground over the next few days to thank them for their service and be sacrifices during this holiday season. the general wants the american people to know that they are making progress here, and for that we went to marjah today which just a few months ago was one of the most dangerous places in afghanistan. the marines say they couldn't leave their base without almost immediately getting shot at. and yet today very different. the general walked right down the main street without his kevlar flak jacket or helmet on. there's a thriving marketplace,
point. if you look at marjah in terms of next summer so six months from now, we think we'll be in a good place. our troops already have thinned out in marjah itself and are moving to other areas beyond marjah. so this is a process. >> reporter: can you win this if militants continue to have free passage into pakistan, finding a safe haven there? can you crack down in a stronger way with the pakistani government? >> well, first of all, they don't have a free pass at this point. there is a -- there are a lot of, as we say in our building kinetic actions taking place along that border in terms of people coming across. one of the areas of progress has been not only the 140,000 pakistani troops working some of these safe havens, in swat and
more in to this effort. what are we getting for the money we've spent so far? is that assessment true? >> i believe it is. effectively, you are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars per soldier on the ground, with an enormous ratio for every taliban killed. amazing the you look purely at the number. my assessment is simply this. we have made huge strategic mistakes announcing where we were sending troops and where we should focus on. we have been focussed on kandahar. kandahar, marjah. marjah is now back. now we declared victory in kandahar. but karzai says the taliban are gone but we don't know where they went. the answer is where you pointed out in the beginning of the segment. they've gone to other places. 90% of the country is in some form controlled by taliban. the attack you are talking
pakistan, north waziristan or frontier province as you are helping to protect american security. when you go after the taliban leadership, you are buying time in afghanistan. because, the film showed from marjah, when we went in there last winter, our marines, it was supposed to be all settled and the government in a box, perfect and that is a relatively small operation, bill, and now, comes kandahar and so, look, i'm not a defeatist. i want to us do well. but, the current policies, the counterinsurgency, we will not call a counterinsurgency, nation building we will not call nation-building, they do not and cannot work. bill: there is an old statement, if that is the case, i'll take it at face value, what you said, there is an old statement that says you cannot kill your way out of this. do you believe that to be true, even today. >> the question is kill your way out of what? in dealing with al qaeda you can kill your way out of it. in dealing with the taliban you probably can't kill your way out of the it.
bill: the cancer is in pakistan, powerful words from president obama, back in 2009, and, since taking office, the commander-in-chief escalated the unmanned cia drone strikes inside of pakistan, the words of the president, documented in bob woodward's new book, obama's wars, everybody is talking about this in washington, and, talking about it across the country, lieutenant colonel ralph peters is the author of endless war, middle eastern islam versus western civilization is also a fox news strategic analyst. how are you doing? >> i'm doing -- good morning, bill, i'm doing fine. i wish afghanistan was doing better. bill: i watched the "60 minutes" piece with laura logan and i was stunned and what these guys are up against in the out posts, in eastern afghanistan trying to fend off the enemy coming over the border with pakistan and petraeus is in charge now and, break it down so we can follow it, videotape that came in two days ago, from marjah, southern afghanistan. are we winning, losing or
it captures a firefight between u.s. forces and the taliban. >> all right samuels -- bill: that dramatic tape taken by an embedded photographer continues for several minutes. the attack happened in marjah. the taliban opened fire on both marines and members of the afghan national army. no u.s. casualties reported. kernel ralph peters with more on winning that what are. martha. martha: there are new reports that a u.s. soldier is being held in iraq in connection with the shooting and killing of two fellow soldiers in fallujah. there is word that he opened fire after an apparent argument. army officials say 20-year-old john carillo of california, and a 26-year-old of connecticut both died from their injuries. that incident remains under
Detailed text transcripts for TV channel - FOXNEWS - 20100927:23:03:00 vimarsana.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vimarsana.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
than 50 million stapbts. now the pakistani government is protesting the strikes saying they violate the nation's sovereignty. the air strikes taking place near the afghan border. nato forces call itself defense, they say they retaliated after pakistani militants attacked a small afghan security force. jenna: u.s. marines getting into a dramatic firefight in the afghan town of marjah as cameras were rolling. >> hit that compound, the little compound west. jenna: the soldiers taking heavy fire from three different locations as they hunted down insurgents, one example of the danger our men and women are facing every minute in the war on terror. u.s. marines clear the taliban out of the territory quite successfully last february but militants are fighting back with hidden bombs and ambushes like this one. jon right now u.s. and nato troops launching a major new
Detailed text transcripts for TV channel - FOXNEWS - 20100927:23:01:00 vimarsana.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vimarsana.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.