Excerpt:
How many times have U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan killed exactly 30 enemy fighters? The answer may surprise you.
Early this week, a little known blogger known as The Security Crank, made an interesting observation. In 2009 alone, there were at least 12 reports in U.S. and international media that cited U.S. and NATO military claims that exactly 30 militants were killed in either air strikes or other military operations in Afghanistan.
According to the blog, “hopping onto Google News and typing “30 Taliban” or “30 suspected militants” brings up literally dozens of stories each year, stretching back at least to 2005. Indeed, thirty seems to be the magic number when it comes to arresting or killing off Taliban and other militant fighters in Afghanistan.” A quick search reveals that is true.
When most events occur once, it is usually the truth. Twice may be a coincidence, and a third time begins a pattern. Anything more than that and it is time to start questioning, which our mainstream fails to do in many respects time and time again.
So why does the number 30 come up so frequently? Is that enough casualties to justify a military attack, yet not enough to draw international attention? An article in the LA Times may provide some insight.
So the likelier explanation is that the Pentagon does not know how many insurgents were killed in any of these strikes, perhaps because distinguishing insurgents from civilians is no easy task. And the 30 number seems like a safe bet: High enough to justify the air strike, but not so high as to seem suspicious or overblown.
All I know is that if I came up with the number 30 – 12 times in one year, I would be rolling in Vegas instead of writing for the Examiner.
Read more here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-23316-Madison-Independent-Examiner~y2009m12d11-Eradicating-the-Taliban-exactly-30-at-a-time