The US Army: winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan

When you read this, it takes an effort to remember why there are US forces in Afghanistan at all. Remember? That business where a bunch of Arab guys killed a lot of innocent civilians? I guess Osama bin Laden felt that he'd "opened his aperture" when he watched the WTC collapse.

Some US military officials are unhappy about the criticism they receive when Afghan children are killed or injured because of US military operations, claiming that insurgents recruit children to plant bombs, so killing children is actually fair game.

"It kind of opens our aperture," said Army Lt Col Marion Carrington. "In addition to looking for military-age males, it's looking for children with potentially hostile intent."

You can certainly see why the Taliban have so much local support when it comes to opening apertures in American soldiers.