The Brutal Afghan Winter Vacation


Here's a blast from the past--an excerpt from a New York Times story of Dec. 24, 2001:

The Predator has problems. It is slow- moving and operates at relatively low altitudes, making it easy prey for antiaircraft fire. At least two Predators have crashed in Iraq this year, presumably shot down, officials said. They are also extremely vulnerable to icing, and it is not clear whether they can operate in the brutal Afghan winter.

"The brutal Afghan winter" became a punch line for early "warbloggers" mocking the defeatism of the media. But today's Times reports that the Afghan winter isn't brutal enough:

Afghanistan's high mountains and harsh weather once meant that winter was a respite from much of the war's violence, but as the deaths of six Western soldiers in three separate attacks on Monday show, this winter is proving to be different.


American military leaders and Taliban commanders are vowing to carry the fight to each other and skip the traditional winter vacation, and there is every sign that they are doing just that.

Why does the Times even bother mentioning the weather? All we need to know is the globe is warming and America is losing.