20 Oct 01 - 10:41 PM (#576591) Subject: Putting up a white flag From: McGrath of Harlow One practical problem that occurs to me about this Afghanistan business is that the Taleban introduced a new flag for Afghanistan. It's plain white. Now this could clearly involve some major problems - how are people supposed to indicate that they are surrendering?
Not just soldiers, civilians. There you are in a bombed out cellar, and you want to stick out something that will indicate that you aren't combatants. No good hanging out a sheet or waving a hanky on a stick is it?
And I can imagine troops thinking they've been tricked if they see a white flag outside a building, and then come under fire from it.
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21 Oct 01 - 12:23 AM (#576611) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: katlaughing They should have to have a red cross or the peace sign on it, then. |
21 Oct 01 - 12:31 AM (#576615) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: wysiwyg The red cross is owned by the Red Cross and by medical personnel. In an Arab country it is likely that the symbol the "Red Cross" would use officially would be the flag of the Red Crescent, which is the symbol used by the Arab member countries in. But the red cross would still have an assigned meaning one could not co-opt. A white flag of truce has no equivalent, I think.... it is what it is. Hm. It IS a problem innit? ~S~ |
21 Oct 01 - 04:06 AM (#576652) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Liz the Squeak I suspect it is a nasty way of getting your people involved in a war, even when they don't want to be. How many times will the US troop be gunned down when taking out what they thought was a surrender, or the US fire on a white flag, thinking it to be the Afghan flag, only to be told by a 'grieving' Taliban rep that it was a surrender flag? If you know that a flag of surrender is white, you'll wave it. If you don't know that your country had introduced a new flag, and that also is white, what are you going to do? It is a very nasty way of doctoring the figures for both innocent victims and martyrs to the cause. LTS |
21 Oct 01 - 07:30 AM (#576688) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: McGrath of Harlow Having a Red Cross on the roof didn't stop that Red Cross warehouse in Kabul getting bombed. |
21 Oct 01 - 10:45 AM (#576734) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: sophocleese That's why they call it a 'surgical strike' McGrath. |
21 Oct 01 - 11:14 AM (#576743) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: GUEST,mgarvey@pacifier.com I think the white flag has been their flag for several years. mg |
21 Oct 01 - 11:26 AM (#576745) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: GUEST History teaches us that they will only get one opportunity to shoot someone under cover of a white flag. After that one occasion, the white flag will be ignored until the target is destroyed and most of the enemy are wounded and dead. War is war and we treat it seriously; dont fucking play games Taliban, they wont help you at all. |
21 Oct 01 - 11:43 AM (#576754) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: McGrath of Harlow The white flag has been around a few years - it's not a gimmick they have suddenly introduced for the purpose of the new war. In fact the Taleban flag isn't just white, it got the "Shahadah" inscribed on it in black Arabic letters -"I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and that Muhammad is his servant and Messenger." But in battle conditions, distinguishing it from a flag of surrender could be very tricky, I imagine. Here is a site about flags of the world, the link being to a page specifically about Afghanistan, which has probably had more flag changes than any other country over thee past century - and they should all be here.
The worry isn't so much that Taleban soldiers will shoot while flying what invaders mistake for a flag of surrender. It's that people trying to surrender, especially civilians - women and chilkdren in particular -will get shot or blown up because their flag of surrender is not recognised as such.
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21 Oct 01 - 12:36 PM (#576776) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Gareth My father had a tale on this - watching the crews of a troop of Shermans (M4) being machine gunned as they tried to bail out of thier burning tanks in the Reichwald Forrest. When the advance continued there was a reluctance to take prisoners. Gareth |
21 Oct 01 - 12:39 PM (#576781) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: wysiwyg McGrath, that was an accident, not a strike that ignored the red cross. ~Susan |
21 Oct 01 - 06:52 PM (#576989) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Gary T I wonder if this is moot--will any Afghan ever surrender? |
21 Oct 01 - 07:15 PM (#577014) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: McGrath of Harlow will any Afghan ever surrender?
Most people in Afghanistan are not soldiers. They are women, children, old men, and so forth. And of course in modern wars, most of the people who get killed are women, children, old men, and so forth.
My point about the Red Cross wasn't that they were aiming for it - but that they didn't see it. (Incidentally, what's a Red Cross doing there in any case? - I'd have thought it would have been a Red Crescent. If so that might explain why it wasn't identified as a non-target.) |
22 Oct 01 - 06:41 PM (#577647) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Steve in Idaho My dad told me a story about WW-II. He flew as a tail gunner on B-17s for the 96th Bomb Group of the 8th Army Air Corps. Apparently another bomb group, the 100th I believe, was being shot up quite badly by German fighters and lowered their wheels to indicate surrender. When the fighters came alongside to escort the surviving bombers to their future internment camp the gunners shot the fighters out of the sky. After that the group didn't get cut a lot of slack by the German fighters. The 100th took the heaviest casualties of WW-II due to this. I may be wrong on the Bomb Group but I know it happened. Steve |
22 Oct 01 - 06:50 PM (#577655) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Murray MacLeod Steve, I don't doubt your Dad recounted this to you in good faith, but is there any corroborative evidence that you are aware of to substantiate this, memoirs, newspaper reports, anything? Murray
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22 Oct 01 - 06:52 PM (#577657) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Steve in Idaho Murray - I never did look. His ball turret gunner told me the same story when I met him in 1967. Probably ought to check it out. I'll do that if I get time tomorrow. The 8th Air Force has a pretty good web site I think. Steve |
23 Oct 01 - 08:50 AM (#577983) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Wolfgang what's a Red Cross doing there in any case? - I'd have thought it would have been a Red Crescent. The symbol depends upon where the organisation giving the money and help comes from and not which country they work in. So in the (at this moment) unlikely case that the Red Crescent from Egypt would come to help in Great Britain they wouldn't change their symbol from crescent to cross. Wolfgang |
23 Oct 01 - 09:07 AM (#577997) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Irish sergeant The big problem again, is visibility. At a mile out, will tankers or riflemen be able to distinguish between a surrender flag and the Taliban flag? and given their propensities, I believe the Taliban is counting on that even if the flag was in use before September 11. Islamic countries would use the Red Crescent, however, the Red Cross is the sponsor of the relieve effort and I believe the Red Cross of the United States is heavily involved. In spite of their propoganda, this fight is not against Islam, nor is it against the people of Afghanistan. It is against the Taliban, Al Qeada and that toe jam eating bastard Osama Bin Laden. I spent enough time on the soap box, Time for my first cup of coffee. Kindest regards, Neil |
23 Oct 01 - 09:14 AM (#578001) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: The_one_and_only_Dai <creep alert> Can anybody shed any light on the origins of the white flag as a sign of truce? ISTR that the Marquess of Newcastle's foot regiment in the ECW had a colonel's colour that was plain white... and (Louis XIV?)'s guard regiments carried colours that were a white cross on a white field... |
23 Oct 01 - 10:00 AM (#578033) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Wolfgang I got interested and tried a search for Dai's question. No success, but incidentially I found a response to Kevin's original question. In history, several flags have been all white when the white flag of surrender was already known. How do you signal surrender then? The rule is: You either hang the flag upside down and if that is not unambiguous you don't carry/display it upright but with lowered/horizontal flagstick. Wolfgang |
23 Oct 01 - 10:22 AM (#578047) Subject: RE: BS: Putting up a white flag From: Steve in Idaho Murray - This is the response from the 100th.
Date = 22 Oct 1 23:29:41 subject = 100thBG Question Submission Steve Neff comments
Regards,
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