# Canadian Flags ("almost certainly") on Taliban Toyota Hiluxes???



## The Bread Guy (15 Oct 2010)

Interesting allegation attributed to David Kilcullen* in this _Newsweek_ blog entry:


> As the war in Afghanistan escalated several years ago, counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen, a member of the team that designed the Iraq surge for Gen. David Petraeus, began to notice a new tattoo on some insurgent Afghan fighters. It wasn’t a Taliban tattoo. It wasn’t even Afghan. It was a Canadian maple leaf.
> 
> When a perplexed Kilcullen began to investigate, he says, he discovered that the incongruous flags were linked to what he says is one of the most important, and unnoticed, weapons of guerrilla war in Afghanistan and across the world: the lightweight, virtually indestructible Toyota Hilux truck.
> 
> “In Afghanistan in particular,” he says, “[the trucks are] incredibly well respected.” So well respected, in fact, that some enterprising fraudsters thought them worthy of ripping off. The imitations, Kilcullen says, had flooded the market, leaving disappointed fighters in their wake. But then “a shipment of high-quality [real] Hiluxes arrived, courtesy of the Canadian government,” he explains. “They had little Canadian flags on the back. Because they were the real deal, and because of how the Hilux is seen, over time, strangely, the Canadian flag has become a symbol of high quality across the country. Hence the tattoos.” .... Some of the Canadian-flagged Hiluxes, says Kilcullen, have almost certainly ended up in Taliban hands this time around ....



Huh?  Could these have been Toyotas still in use after being sent to previous regimes?  And maple leaf tattoos on Taliban?  WTF

* - assuming he was quoted correctly and in full context


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## ModlrMike (15 Oct 2010)

Complete bollocks!  :rage:


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## DominikEthier (15 Oct 2010)

Hahahaha! Wow this is just so....   !


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## Ignatius J. Reilly (15 Oct 2010)

I am under the impression that tattoing is forbidden under Sharia, except for temporary henna tattoos, which are usually only worn by women.


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## medicineman (15 Oct 2010)

How odd...mind you, around Canada Day in 03, Canadian flags mysteriously appeared on alot of non-Canadian vehicles in Kabul.  The French army in particular complained quite loudly...you'd think they had more important things to whine about  ;D.

MM


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## Jarnhamar (18 Oct 2010)

Here's a maple leaf for our friends


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## Oh No a Canadian (18 Oct 2010)

First American tourists, now the Taliban. Who is next?  ;D


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## DominikEthier (5 Nov 2010)

sdfsefsef


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## George Wallace (5 Nov 2010)

Cop said:
			
		

> sdfsefsef



 ???

I had an Ex who wrote like that.   ???  So did Frank see Elvis friggin someone else famous?


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## The Bread Guy (5 Nov 2010)

Oh No a Canadian said:
			
		

> First American tourists, now the Taliban. Who is next?  ;D


Haitian cops, it would appear (with some spare parts help coming from Canada).


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## Armymedic (6 Nov 2010)

Its the Toyota trucks that have the black on clear background flag, not the Taliban themselves.


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## Journeyman (6 Nov 2010)

Rider Pride said:
			
		

> Its the Toyota trucks that have the black on clear background flag, not the Taliban themselves.


Well, the original article states specifically,

"Gen. David Petraeus, began to notice a new tattoo *on* some insurgent Afghan fighters. It wasn’t a Taliban tattoo. It wasn’t even Afghan. It was a Canadian maple leaf."


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## Armymedic (6 Nov 2010)

My mistake, I took it as it was on the Taliban captured trucks, not on the fighters themselves.


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## medicineman (6 Nov 2010)

Sure it's just not some sickos leaving stick on tattoos on dead bad guys as a calling card?

MM


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## armyvern (6 Nov 2010)

Did someone highjack a shipment of Mike's Army.ca temporary tattoos??


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## nairna (6 Nov 2010)

Grimaldus: priceless


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