Posted on 09/09/2009 4:58:52 PM PDT by Starman417
Four Marines died yesterday in Afghanistan when the Taliban laid a trap:
Four U.S. Marines died Tuesday when they walked into a well-laid ambush by insurgents in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province. Seven Afghan troops and an interpreter for the Marine commander also died in the ambush and the subsequent battle, which lasted seven hours.Three American service members and 14 Afghan security force members were wounded.
It was the largest number of American military trainers to die in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
The battle took place around the remote hamlet of Gangigal, in a valley about six miles from the Pakistani border, after local elders invited the U.S. and Afghan forces for a meeting.
American officers said there was no doubt that they’d walked into a trap, as the insurgents were dug in at the village, and had preset their weapons and their fields of fire.
It was a trap alright....but one they could of extradited themselves out of if not for the rules of engagement laid out by Obama's General, General Stanley McChrystal:
Airstrikes by coalition forces in Afghanistan have dropped dramatically in the three months Gen. Stanley McChrystal has led the war effort there, reflecting his new emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties and protecting the population.NATO fixed-wing aircraft dropped 1,211 bombs and other munitions during the past three months — the peak of the fighting season — compared with 2,366 during the same period last year, according to military statistics. The nearly 50% decline in airstrikes comes with an influx of more than 20,000 U.S. troops this year and an increase in insurgent attacks.
The shift is the result of McChrystal’s new directives, said Air Force Col. Mark Waite, an official at the air operations center in southwest Asia. Ground troops are less inclined to call for bombing or strafing runs, though they often have an aircraft conduct a “show of force,” a flyby to scare off insurgents, or use planes for surveillance, Waite said.
The Marines who were killed were not the ones less inclined to call for a bombing run, in fact they were depending on it to get them out of the trap....and none came:
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net
Just another reason he is ineligible to be CinC.....
Nothing is sadder than Marines dying for this worthless POS.
I’m sorry to say that this will be increasingly common.
Obama’s rules of engagement are a return to micromanagement of a kind that characterized the LBJ years in Vietnam.
Our troops are put in an impossible position, basically prevented from defending themselves. And if they DO defend themselves, they put themselves in danger of a courtmartial.
As Eisenhower told JFK, don’t start a war unless you intend to win it. If you don’t want to do the things necessary to win it, then it would be better to pull out. Otherwise, we are sacrificing the lives of our troops for nothing.
The tallies now know that we are not allowed to strike the villages from the air - so they now will dig in and use them for their base of operations, and they know that a ‘flyby to scare them’ is as empty as the head of bobble head...
He is a murderer - and a muslim sympathizer - and a traitor and -
Pssst! Troops! If McChrist-al has banned bombing, call for the artillery. Arty used to be the poor man’s air force, bringing rubble to big trouble. Of course, they prolly don’t have any light artillery anywhere in ‘Stan. Rumsfeldt did away with all the light artillery for tracked 155 MM artillery. The 105MM was the Infantry’s best friend in my day.
where are all the anti war protesters?
He won't let our troops have air cover - and in the valleys of the Kunar, that is deadly.
August was the deadliest month of the war for our troops and Sept is following suit.
Where is the MSM NOW!
Dear Leader is more concerned about killing enemies than our troops = muzzie sympathizer and Traitor in Chief. I repeat: damn him to hell
LBJbama is making Vietnam II
Pray for America and Our Troops
Traitor in Chief has given the tallies the green light - “fire at will on our troops - and I won't let them defend themselves.”
tallies learn fast///
Zero’s hero, Jimmie Carter, established really stupid rules of engagement for our Navy in the Med—our pilots could not return fire on aircraft that fired on them. Libyan MIG pilots made great sport of coming up and taking a shots at US Navy fighters, then turning tail and heading back into Libyan territory, knowing that the US Navy pilots were prohibited from firing back. Fortunately, the election of Ronald Reagan brought common sense back into play and he immediately threw out the coward Carter’s rules of engagement. Much to the surprise of the Libyans, their first encounter with the USN after January 20, 1981, resulted in 5 or 6 Libyan jets being splashed. Not surprisingly, the Libyan harassment immediately stopped.
Tell me about it, when I joined the National Guard 9 years ago it was a FA unit I went to. I saw it transition to an infantry unit, along with the rest of the state — particularly disturbing considering that MOST (~70%) of the Army’s “tubes and rotars” are National Guard, and the Guard basically got rid of all their arty — I always thought it was a mistake to get rid of it all.
Why are we there? Taliban and Al Qaeda have base of operations in Pakistan. Iran is supplying them with sophisticated IEDs. Afghanistan remains #1 producer of poppy crop for world’s heroin. Karzai has no power outside Kabul. Why are we sacrificing our bravest?
This is absolutely ridiculous!!! Heads should roll. If we are so stupid that we send our troops out without adequate air and artillery support, these commanders should be immediately relieved.
Lets use our military effectively. For the persons who now sit in the seats of power, lets draw the proper conclusions.
“’We’re pinned down:’ 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2335142/posts
Pingonya
Let's see. -A president leaves troops without air cover. Troops die. -Said same president pulls the rug from the intelligence community.
I wonder what happened to the last president who did that?
That would be clinton. And NOTHING happened to him.
You know, I think I just can’t get more outraged. But I KNOW tomorrow something will happen that will be worse. Trying toget my grip back. It ain’t easy.
Somalia. Blackhawk Down.
Clinton was impeached. If the Senate had been majority Republican he would have been out on his ear.
I know Mesta. I feel the same way. I’m trying to channel my anger and frustration today productively, as I know you are. At the very least, McChrystal needs to go. Someone needs to lose their rank and retirement over these Marines deaths. That is an absolute necessity.
“In Flanders Fields”
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)
Clinton was impeached. But what happened to him. He was found not guilty. Nothing happened. He committed perjury. Nothing happened. He prevented the intel agencies from communicating which led to 9/11. He robbed the National Archives and destroyed classified documents. What happened to clinton? He left office and became a Bush Brother. THAT’S what happened to clinton.
If the Senate had been majority Republican he would have been out of office.
Did you see “We Were Soldiers Once, And Young?”
There was a song by Clan an Drumma, “Sgt. MacKenzie.” I bought the whole CD just for that track. It is haunting. It goes through my head every time one of our Troops fall. Remember Me. That is what I keep thinking. All these Soldiers. So much pain and for what?
I don’t know. And they don’t either. It hurts so much.
So we remember. And that just is not enough. Not for this.
But it wasn’t and HE wasn’t and nothing happened to him except that he is a very wealthy criminal now.
True. This is why the next election is very important.
Isn’t that the most haunting song you have ever heard? I haven’t been able to shake it ever since the first time I heard it.
Remember me. Remember me. It just goes ‘round and ‘round. I pray for our Troops. I am trying to reach a voice who can speak louder than I. Pray G-d someone hears.
I do recall the song in the background of that film...it is haunting.
It is a Memorial.
Oh, Nachum. You don’t know how hard I pray there will even BE a next election.
We don’t know the names of those Marines or where they were deployed from yet do we?
Be of good cheer. We are never given a challenge greater than we can face. :)
We have much better options today. Ever watch the Military Channel?
Not exactly, he got re-elected.
Not for Blackhawk Down. For going down I guess.
That has been my fear, since before the election.
That Traitor McCain told us we have nothing to fear from that man, Obama.
That POS could care less what happens to our troops.
If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no need of tinker's hands.
Futile gestures are just that: futile, and remain only gestures.
Might as well say, "if the electorate was informed, and the MSM honest, Obama would still be a nobody living in Chi-Town."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.