by Chuck MacNab
It is no small matter that
the most crippling restrictions to military tactics in the field have now been
placed on soldiers and their commanders in Afghanistan. I refer to the
REQUIREMENT that only Afghan troops can go into residences and certain other
places when carrying out their assigned duties to purge an area of well-armed
and dangerous enemy combatants.
This is a disastrous way
to fight a war and is a ridiculous condition to impose on troops trying to follow
orders while defending their lives and keeping themselves safe in armed combat.
Only a group of fools whose lives are NOT at risk and who have zero military
experience would force such preconditions on combat troops. To these people,
politics seems to be the most important consideration and if someone gets
killed complying with the orders, well, so be it... and, by the way, where's a great place to have lunch!
Anyone who watches this
war with even a primitive understanding of practical military tactics knows
that the Obama Administration's imposition of these NEW restrictions, supposedly
for protection of Afghan civilians, are being used by the Taliban to
kill U.S. troops and will cause a LOT MORE U.S. casualties. This is so ignorant
and so irresponsible as to be beyond comprehension.
The Obama policies are now
creating a badly managed war that interferes with the safety of individual
soldiers in the field. Military commanders in Afghanistan should send a message
to Washington that indicates the ridiculousness of these rules of engagement. Of
course, that all but guarantees their non-promotion and retirement from the
military!
Our recommendation is that
Obama and his “political advisors,” go to Afghanistan with full gear, march in
the 120 degree heat and wait while less well trained Afghan troops search for
their Taliban relatives wherever they may hide behind civilians (which they
will now be certain to do!) Perhaps some Obama “politicians” could volunteer to
fight the ground war there.
It is a soldier's duty to follow orders but at the same time it is unconscionable for a military commander to
risk casualties among his troops by allowing
political interference to over ride sound combat tactics in the field. Yet this is happening, to the extreme detriment of soldiers on the ground!
In fairness - unless you are trying to make a purely partisan point - none of Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld ever saw active service, and many senior generals were highly critical of some of their decisions.
Posted by: Robert Morris | July 12, 2009 at 11:37 AM