Weakest Slam Evah!

It baffles me that liberals go all Gordon Ramsey over the Daily Mail when on some issues the Mail is pretty much indistinguishable from the left. Take the war - not only has the Mail been pushing the 'Surrender Now!' line since approximately 09:35 on September 12, but there are no limits to the lengths the Mail will go to try and slam US troops. Which brings me neatly onto this.

They can't even keep it up till the end of the first paragraph:

Afghanistan's snow leopards have barely survived three decades of war. But now the few remaining mountain leopards left in Afghanistan face another threat -- foreigners involved in rebuilding the war-torn country.

Uh huh. Foreigners.

Maybe the smoking gun is in the second paragraph:

Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital. Foreigners have ready cash to buy the pelts as souvenirs and impoverished Afghans break poaching laws to supply them.

Und so wieter...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you're looking for atrocious behaviour in conflict zones, the US Army is a losing bet. On the contrary, here as everywhere else, Americans have gone the other way:

Since August last year, [US Embassy official] Miller and the [New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society] have been educating military and civilian staff, in particular those in charge of mail services, on how to recognise endangered and threatened animal furs as well as conducting "raids" on U.S. military bases.

The raids have yielded products from endangered species including snow leopards, said Miller, but he stressed the U.S. military was very "cooperative" in trying to combat the trade.

Within two weeks of their first training session on a U.S. base just outside Kabul, the military had managed to "virtually eliminate" any trade of these products on the base, he said.

Not only that but there's this:

Anyone caught knowingly transporting a fur across an international border is liable to a large fine. In the United States, it could result in a $100,000 fine and one year jail term.

So the only evidence for US troops being involved in the fur trade is that the US has clamped down on troops being involved in the fur trade. I guess if they'd ignored it, it wouldn't be a problem. Hey, it seems to work for the UN.