10 signs that you might be Taliban

[Richard B the EMT]

"Ah! There's Klinger!"

Klinger? Well, I don't know, but Corporal Maxwell Q Klinger, US Army 4077 MASH was of Lebanese/American extraction. "Go Mud Hens!"

[Richard B the EMT]

Perhaps not so funny, but you might be Taliban if you fly helicopters under contract to NATO.

From the New York Daily News...

NATO arms, ammo land in Taliban land

BY JAMES GORDON MEEK

DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Friday, April 18th 2008, 4:00 AM

WASHINGTON - NATO's command in Afghanistan fessed up Thursday to a bonehead blunder - it delivered arms, ammo and food into enemy Taliban hands.

The U.S.-European alliance blamed "human error" - bad directions - for a NATO-contracted chopper leaving the lethal load on the wrong mountaintop in late March.

The airlift on behalf of an unnamed NATO unit was intended for an Afghan National Police outpost in a mountainous region.

"Unfortunately, due to a human error in transcribing the latitude and longitude of the location, the load was dropped in another remote area," said a statement by NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Kabul.

"The cargo consisted of 7.62-mm. small-arms ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and food and water. It did not contain any guns," NATO said.

The AK-47 rifles and PK machine guns typically used by both NATO's Afghan allies and the Taliban insurgents use 7.62-mm. ammunition.

Afghan government officials said the gift was picked up by the Taliban, according to news services. The Pajhwok Afghan News agency reported that officials believe the cargo ended up in Zabul province - a Taliban stronghold.

A NATO spokesman would not identify the air cargo firm or disclose how many RPGs and how much ammunition was airdropped to the enemy. But the spokesman, Portuguese Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco, insisted, "It was not a large shipment."

Branco told the Daily News the cargo was "deliberately left unattended" at the drop site because "the pilots did not have the perception they were leaving the shipment at the wrong place."

That was a mistake, too, he said.

"One would look around to see if any 'friendlies' were there to accept the delivery, even if during night or with lack of visibility," the officer wrote in an e-mail.

In recent years, the coalition has relied more on private contractors to deliver mail, food and ammunition to its outposts. That's because Afghanistan's few passable roads have become littered with Taliban bombs and most U.S. military aircraft are committed to Iraq.

jmeek@nydailynews.com