'They Came Here to Give You Peace'

While I'm not crazy about this information being divulged for the obvious reason these soldiers may later face repercussions, it's refreshing to see a report noting we have assistance from Arabs in Afghanistan, and, unlike popular perception, they don't all hate us.

Surprising to see it from the BBC of all places, considering their notorious anti-American bent.

The BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner, can reveal that Arab soldiers have been taking part in dangerous missions alongside US troops in Afghanistan.

Troops from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been delivering humanitarian aid to their fellow Muslims and, on occasion, fighting their way out of Taleban ambushes. Though Jordanian forces have been carrying out some base security duties, the UAE's troops are the only Arab soldiers undertaking full-scale operations in the country.

Until now, their deployment has been kept so secret that not even their own countrymen knew they were here.

Naturally, this will result in the inevitable seething and rage from the usual suspects.

So I asked Maj Ghanem whether he was worried about how some people in the Arab world might react to this.

"We have an answer for that. Even if you are asking back in the UAE or in the Gulf, or you asking here, we have the same answer," he said.

"We make a contract with the US Army to help the people down here, not to fight".

But I put it to him that in fact his troops have been fighting insurgents as well as handing out aid.

"If we have any types of personal attacks we react with fire. And after that we go to the elders in this area: 'Why are you shooting us? We came here to help you.

"'If you have the same picture of all coalition forces, we are different. We came here to help you.'

"And we try to convince the people about the US, about British. They came here to give you peace."

We now return you to the typical anti-American drivel from the BBC.