The Russians were forced to leave Afghanistan when the mujahadeen aquired the Stinger, thereby removing Soviet air superiority. Something similar is underway in iraq

history repeats itself

Jeremy, North vancouver, BC Canada

When the Regan administration gave the Mujahadeen fighters in Afghanistan, the lethal Stinger missiles, Russian helicopters were being shot out of th skies on a daily basis. This very fact, led to the Russian defeat in Afghanistan.

Do you think the Russians are thinking : " Paybacks Are Great "?

George Eadeh, Jacksonville,, Florida / USA

If you remember history Afghanistan was the USSR's Vietnam. I'm sure, just as we did, a large amount of arms and ammunition was left behind. Why should we be surprised by this "nw development". What it implies is we lost the ground war and now the Iraqis are taking the next step the air war.
We will claim great victory in Bagdhad when all that is really happened is the insugents went underground to prepare for phase II.
Americans must accept there is nothing we can do, we have lost the war in Iraq

Wil Lofland, Parkside, PA. USA

Geez, who would've thought that with every passing year the insurgents would get better and better and their technology and support would get better and better (apart from all the experts in counter-insurgency warfare, e.g., the Vietnam guys like Gen. Zinni, Gen. Hoar, Gen. Shinseki, the late Col. Hackworth, et al.)?!! But hey, Gen. Petreaus, the new expert in counter-insurgency warfare and the author of the new counter-insurgency manual for the U.S. military thinks all is going well and "The Surge" will be successful, and shouldn't he know, he has his counter-insurgency expertise from spending four years at a Hudson Valley military academy and a few years in Princeton.

Daniel, Frederick, USA

The small print of this article is even more revealing than the big. The US is having to use helicopters because roadside bombs are now so dangerous that they can penetrate the armour of an Abrams tank. Does this not mean that the tank is going the way of the battleship? Tanks have been vulnerable to air-attack for decades. if they can now be knocked out by home-made bombs then they are almost useless. Forget invading Iran Mr Bush. Unless you are willing to exterminate its population wholesale, your tanks and helicopters are bound to be destroyed in even greater numbers. In future the only foreign wars with a hope of success will be those supported by the local population. Imperial adventures, like the invasion of Iraq, will have to be a thing of the past.

Adrian Gilbert, Tonbridge, England

It is ironic and not an unique observation, that countries develop munitions' technology, negotiate with some acrimony for $billion dollar deals; only to have the same weapons subsequently and devastatingly turned on them. Left hand not telling the right hand.....

Robbie Rohan, Great Chart, Kent, UK

How about operation more bloodshed i and II
or operation iraqi liberation (O.I.L)
or operation iranian liberation (more O.I.L)

Bob, bath, uk

......and here we are again, one more lap of the circuit complete! I just read practically the same story, word for word, as I did almost twenty years ago. Then it was over the American government supplying Stinger missiles to insurgents in Afganistan. Russia was loosing helicopters hand over fist the guys dressed in sack cloth and armed with the latest 'must have' in western missile technology. Regularly the Biased Broadcasting Corporation would indulge us with footage of faint and grey whispy lines zooming into the blue to be followed by an explosion...and the death of its targets crew.

So, same old, same old...but this time the shoes on the other foot!!!

David Downes, Chester, UK

Since 'Operation Together Forward I' and 'Operation Together Forward II' were judged by the US military planners to have been total failures, would they perhaps have a better chance of success if the next 'Operation' were dubbed 'Together Backward' ?

henry laycock, kingston, canada

According to intenational law these attacks are fully justified and legitimate fight with occupying power. Occupation, on the other hand, is illegal.

It's time americans understood that, everybody else seems to have done it long time ago.

van dribble, washington, USA