Fool, does he not realise the dangers of smoking!

This goes against the spirit of the smoking ban.

guys its ok, he was a 1000ft from the guy he shot so the smoke wouldnt have reached him

can't help but agree with Sellotape on this one - the whole tone of the story is celebratory. This isn't like bagging a hole in one at golf - he has killed another human being. It reads like a WWI or WWII story about our boys giving it to 'the hun'. Has the Evening News turned into a jingoistic propaganda sheet?

#5 - the words are those of the soldier, not the newspaper. I don't like the tone of the piece either, extinguishing a human life isn't a Hamlet moment, but if you want balance in the media you must show all sides, tasteful or not. This is how that soldier viewed that moment, and that remains true whether we like it or not.

#2
You're havana laugh aren't you.

A message to all you liberals criticising the soldier.

Wake up! He is in a combat situation and it is a case of kill or be killed!

I say well done to him and i am proud to say that!

Also all you nationalists out there, you must be embarrassed of him being a Scot in an english regiment! Goes against your nationalist ideology!

From one Scot to another, WELL DONE!

How the hell does he know who he shot? He could have been the tea boy for all he knew.

Hope he gets to smoke many more cigars.

Nice shooting.

Taliban commander, sounds like all officers/commanders stand up & walk tall in sight of the enemy. The quickest way to get killed. Why not just open a map completely for an even better clue.

Good shot anyway, another bites the dust.

THANKS FOR THE HELP BROTHER.

Thus we notice the hunter-like mindeset, the superiority delusion, someone who has an orgasm after a killing (yes, it's just like smoking after sex).

btw, here's another sniper, only he's on the "other side" - but his passtime is blogging and making movies about his "work": http://www.jubaonline.org/

Sellotape, #4,
The soldier's comment about not losing sleep is shocking but predictable. The armed forces always seek to dehumanize the enemy to make it easy to kill him/her. You're not fighting young men/women like yourself, you're fighting "gooks," "reds," etc... You're told all about how they eat the children of their enemies.... You'd have a lot more trouble shooting him if you were told "Look, this guy probably has a family that loves him and needs him as much as your family loves you and needs you."
Unfortunately, after the war is over and the enemy is now your friend, the brainwashing remains. All that's left is xenophobia....

#15
If you equate an orgasm to a cigar, I suppose you were against the smoking ban big time.

#16 Miami,
So what are you saying? Don't shoot the enemy?
Let them shoot us?
Believe me, their xenophobia is born in the bone, and I wouldn't like to share a democracy with them.

Don't judge soldiers on principles of common behaviour. They are uncommon people in that their military training is designed to set them apart.

They have been psychologically deconstructed and reconstructed to obey orders without question, and that includes killing without compassion. Otherwise the are not going to be much use as a soldier.

Can you imagine how effective our fighting forces would be in attack or defence, if they felt the need to contemplate or pray each time they took a life or badly injured someone.

Is it me, #18,

I'm not saying that a soldier should not shoot. By definition, a soldier fights. However, I don't think you have to hate in order to kill.

My comment was meant to point out that the hatred instilled in a soldier (or the civilians of a nation) far outlast the war.

Just an example to illustrate my point: A woman I know who lived through WWII still refuses to talk to anyone who is Japanese. Those hatreds last long...

As for your comment: "Believe me, their xenophobia is born in the bone, and I wouldn't like to share a democracy with them."
I do think that most of the Muslim world speaks with one voice with regards to their hatred of the US and Israel. I think that this xenophobia is bred, and not "born in the bone" as you say.

A dead terrorist is a good terrorist! Glad to see the British Isles producing fine soldiers.
Why is the rest of the population such a bunch of wimps and cry babies?

If you hear ALLAHAKBARU to close,it is to late.
You are dead!!!!!!

Have any of us shot and killed in war? On these postings, I mean. I, Myself have shot at another person.( He shot first) This was while on deployment in the Phillapinnes(Damn, how do you spell that?)I doubt very seriously that i hit anything but jungle. It was a VERY ancient Colt 45 I had been issued, and i was solo at the time. It evidently made enough noise that, thank god, he went away. Yeah, i had a smoke after the shakes went away.

wicked-grey #20
I hear what you say, and respect your views.
For my part ,my standpoint on this matter dates from personal observation and traumatic experiences in South Yemen way back in the 1960's when,as a young man, I lost several friends,(civilians), murdered in the cause of Arab advancement. Pointless, and an insignificant skirmish compared to today's confrontation. It won't go into the history books.
The attack on U.S.S. Cole from the same Port brought it all back to me; 40 years on, if it's not 'bred in the bone', it's a pretty close run thing.The people who did that had the hatred of all things Western passed on to them.
As for your example of the lady and the WW2 (Japanese),aversion, I could cite you many similar cases in this country; it's not xenophobia. We were bombed by Nazi inspired zealots and not many of the older ,(even than me), generation would want to shake hands with them.
I sense that were not going to have a meeting of minds on this, but nice talking to you,
A.

Is it me, #24,

It's definitely refreshing to not get yelled at and insulted for what I say on these posts, for once :)
I was told by one poster that I see things through rose colored lenses... She is right, I do, as do we all. Yours are less tinted than most since you have had personal (and tragic) experience with extremism.
I guess we can agree to disagree, and I'll furthermore admit that I don't have all the answers ;)

One of my co-workers (USMC, RET) sends this fine Royal Marine a hearty SEMPER FI and Per Mare Per Terram.

I myself would like to by this fine Marine a bottle of Oban Scotch and a box of Don Diegos.

And for the benifit of the anti smoking zealots, cigars are meant to be savored, not inhaled. In moderation as they are meant to be smoked, cigars are far less dangerous than demon cigarettes. (And that includes the mind wrecking cannibas).

During the Taliban regime, these cavemen they " kill anytime" they want . "Symphatizers" of this Cult don't even say a "single good word" in favor of these"humans" being killed by the followers of their beloved self proclaimed profit (prophet)Momoo. I hope that someday they will realize what kind of evil they are supporting.

He shot a man from a kilometer away ! This man (whether he smokes or not) is no man. He is a spineless and gutless murderer.

Thank God for men like this sniper. Would that the West had more like him. My heart is doing the "Happy Dance." It is not our job to say how God should judge the souls of the murdering scum that is the Taliban; however, it is, if we are personally blessed, our job to arrainge the meeting.

Lastly, as a policy person, another thing I've learned: I need not listen to anyone using any form of the word "Jingoism." 'nuf said.

The "murdering scum" are the people at the top who set policy and send the people to war. The people who do the shooting and those who get shot are in all likelihood pretty much the same - if they met each other in a bar they would be far more likely to get drunk together than shoot each other.

So it goes through history - people are divided on spurious grounds, to advance the objectives of their "superiors".

Good show! Good shot! Let's send him a case of cigars for the rest of the nutters he'll bag and forget those pansies that agonize over the enemy's humanity.

#28 - Perhaps I'm wrong, but I have a vision of you as a pencil-necked pen-pushing geek shuffling papers in a US government department, well out of harm's way. The kind of no-mark whose trousers do the "Happy Dance" every time America bombs another third world country.

#23 2dogs in D.C. - Yes, After 3 years working in the private security in Baghdad & still working there I would say yes. It's survival.

What a shocking story - soldier shoots terrorist scum in war zone. This man (a public servant no less)has wantonly carried out his duty and proactively enforced the policy of his democratically elected government and achieved a result. Surely there must be a full public enquiry and show trial.

I wonder about the printing of his name and the town he lives in, surely this would put his family
at risk of retribution from taliban simpathisers

As an American, I am THANKFUL that Britain has vowed to help America in our war against Al Qaeda. I beleive this man was being truthful when he said he isn't losing any sleep over shooting the AQ commander. I would, except it would be in jubilation because there is a group of taliban that are sitting ducks.

For those who say he is a spineless and gutless coward, you are truly mistaken. Would you like to wait until he is at your front door? Alqaeda and the taliban ARE cowards. The brave men who hunt them down are NOT.

Too bad he didn't get the rest of them.

Some of you morons should realise that this is the only way to deal with these people.
These people only want one thing...to kill us.
There is no reasoning with them and they have to be killed. It's that simple. Them or us. Under Taliban rule, this kind of free speech wouldn't be allowed!
That sniper made a good kill and I wish him more good hunting.
If the Taliban hadn't given Al Qaeda bases to train to fly planes into the WTC and carry out other atrocities, none of this hurt would've come to visit them.
They're reaping the whirlwind.
What kind of cigars does he like anyhow?

To the Leftist.. PLEASE STOP. You've done enough to drain all the energy out of your/our political leadership, please dont start with the only people who are keeping you from being nuked one day.

(By Leftist I meant Leftists in general, not anyone in particular)

You can brag all you want. Just hope they don't catch you. The Afghans used to skin Russians alive. Hiding behind planes and bushes may help a while,but, not if the Afghans get really mad. In Canada people are fed up with following Bush and company. Canadian soldiers should get out of Afghanistan and the British should do the same. Only Afghans can solve their problems.

Bari: I'm not sure it's wise to tell a soldier how you're against his command in chief. Selfish much?

#41 Yes you are so correct lets leave them to it, growing their poppies, stoning women, beating anyone who disagrees with their medieval beliefs.