War veterans: Afghan

bloodbath if US troops

invade: “Hard-bitten Russian veterans of the

disastrous Soviet intervention in Afghanistan have

warned of a bloodbath if the United States sends in

ground forces in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, wanted for last

month’s US terror attacks.

Alexei Zelenyov, now a deputy in the Russian parliament but

seen by some as the Soviet Union’s last action hero, predicted

the worst for US troops in the event of a protracted land

campaign.

“The US special forces will be up against people who have

been fighting for 20 years and who have grown up as warriors.

The Afghans have an immeasurable love of freedom. Every

province is a state in itself,” he said. The Times of India