Posted by
Bill Patchett on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:12:59 AM
I have read two different
articles about the war in Afghanistan and in the last couple of days I have read some pretty
disturbing things. I do not believe, what I’m about to comment on, was really
reported because of our liberal news reporters that report only what they want
you to hear. I do not know how it slipped through the cracks. During a recent
battle in Afghanistan the United States commanders, quoted and
referred to new rules of engagement to stop
civilian casualties, in which they rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery
rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines despite being told
repeatedly that they weren't near any village." I bet you my last
dollar that this was not the first time that it happened and it was totally
ignored by the news papers and therefore went totally unnoticed by the American
public. But this time there was someone
to witness it, who had the doodads to write it down and publish it. I’m referring
to the deaths of four United States soldiers that were killed by the rules of
engagement they have to use when fighting the enemy. They are the new rules of
engagement. This incident took place last Tuesday in an ambush, by Muslim
terrorist, against Afghan forces and their U.S. trainers around the village of
Ganjgal. There was a journalist whose
name is Jonathan S. Landay of McClatchy Newspapers who was there and lived through the deadly firefight to write
the following:
Specifically, the deaths of four U.S.
Marines seemingly by the new rules of engagement (ROE) in Afghanistan. They the
"U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected
repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and
tree lines despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the
village."
What
Landay describes and tells sounds like a terrible demonstration of what
Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal talked about all summer and
what many other people have called our war on civilian casualties. It is being
waged, as thinking goes, to win Afghan "hearts and minds" and thus
the "counterinsurgency" against the Taliban. Forget about the lives
of our brave soldiers. McChrystal and this strategy currently have the over
whelming support of both Obama and the Left wingers, who, with the
help of a new conservative think tank, the Foreign Policy Initiative, recently
wrote an open letter to President Obama specifically congratulated the
president for choosing the McChrystal team, and put across confidence in its
new strategy. According to their thinking protecting the Afghan people from, “Everything
that can hurt them”, will not only make the people like us, but they will help
us. (Please who are they kidding) These people think that this kind of thinking
will upset and stop the jihad that is being waged against people who do not
believe the Muslim religion. But what this policy is really doing is increasing
the dangers for our troops that have been sent in harm’s way. Here is a
statement that McChrystal made to the BBC: "It's
a balance for the young soldier on the ground who is in combat. One of the
assets that he has that mightsave
his life, might be air power or indirect fire from artillery or mortars and we
don't want to take away that protection for him."Now that
to me is talking out of both sides of your mouth. The suggestion that our
troops might be called on to think twice about saving their own lives was, to
me, bone chilling. And more than ever after what happened this week is less
soldier-on-the-ground uncertainty than commander-at-the-base wanting to pacify
the Afghan Muslims. Here is what Landay's account said about this:
U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian
casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug
into the slopes and tree lines despite being told repeatedly that they weren't
near the village."
In other words, McChrystal's soldiers on the ground wanted
protection to save their lives and didn't get it. Now explain that!This
should be a national disgrace. A NATO-led investigation is under way into the
incident, which on its face appears to be a natural result of the "hearts
and minds" policy endorsed by Left and Right alike. As McChrystal put it
last month: "We're here to protect the Afghan
people. And we're here to protect them from everything that can hurt them, both
enemy activity but also inadvertent activity by Afghan forces or ours. So we're
trying to build into the philosophy of our forces a incredible sensitivity and
understanding that everything they may do must be balanced against the
possibility of hurting anyone." That is anyone but our
own!
Our arm forces have come a long way since World War Two. I read in
an article wrote by Diana West were she quoted a statement from General Patton
which were repeated in the Movie “Patton “by George C. Scott. This is what
Patton said: "I want you to remember
that no b**tard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making
the other poor, dumb b**tard die for his country." Today, our generals have something else in mind as we can see when
McChrystal says: "The Afghan people are the reason we're here." I might be dumb as a stick
like some of you liberals think that I am But I thought the reason we were in
that country was to destroy the Taliban and their network of terrorism. If that
is not the case then why are we there? Why are our young men dying every day,
over there serving their country.According to McClatchey's report
this week, there is a troubling and disturbing suspicion that the Afghan
people, local villagers and even security personnel, were behind the Ganjgal
ambush in the first place. Now what is wrong with this picture? Why are our young men and women fighting and
dying in a war that they cannot win (BECAUSE
OF THIS REASON ONLY) their hands are being tied by politicians and generals
who want to be politically correct.
There will be some who read this article who
will not agree with me but you do not take a big stick to a gun fight and
expect to win. You bring a bigger gun and then you are not afraid to use it. Will
this war against terrorist be won in Washington by people who want to be
politically correct or will it be won by soldiers who hands are untied and
given the order to get it done?