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My hero son who won Victoria Cross died because of Army ban on weapons that damage Taliban mud huts
Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 22nd June 2013 | Mark Nicol

Posted on 06/22/2013 4:23:19 PM PDT by naturalman1975

A British soldier awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross died in vain because of an order to prevent damage to Taliban mud huts, an inquest will be told this summer.

Colleagues of Lance Corporal James Ashworth – who won the UK’s highest gallantry medal – are expected to tell a coroner they were denied powerful weapons to take on the Taliban due to fears mortars and rockets could damage buildings.

Soldiers from the Grenadier Guards will claim James died because he was forced to crawl to within a few feet of an enemy sniper in a mud hut while clutching a grenade, rather than firing from a safer distance.

Last night his father Duane Ashworth accused top brass of sacrificing his son’s life to protect the building, saying his pride in his son’s VC was now coupled with anger over the way in which he had died.

‘We can build more mud huts but nobody can bring back my son. This is hard to stomach,’ he said.

Just weeks before L/Cpl Ashworth died in June last year, new tactics were introduced by the multi-national forces in Afghanistan that prevented use of heavy weapons in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

The change – in response to a request from President Hamid Karzai to protect local infrastructure – meant British patrols no longer carried mortars and shoulder-held rocket launchers on routine operations, forcing them to engage any targets at close range.

L/Cpl Ashworth would still be alive if they had been able to use the weapons that were restricted just a month earlier, his comrades will say.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; afghanwar; jamesashworth; karzai; mudhuts; roe; taliban; unitedkingdom; victoriacross; waronterror; yurt
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1 posted on 06/22/2013 4:23:19 PM PDT by naturalman1975
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To: naturalman1975

Fight to win, or get out.


2 posted on 06/22/2013 4:26:18 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: naturalman1975
so what... there's PLENTY of mud there to rebuild them!!!

a mud hut is NOT worth this brave man's life

3 posted on 06/22/2013 4:26:54 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: naturalman1975

Islam is determined to destroy civilization.

What is it about this fight to the death that our “leaders” don’t understand?


4 posted on 06/22/2013 4:30:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: naturalman1975

He died defending NYC.

I’d never allow my kids to fight to defend NYC, or any of its inhabitants.

We should give NYC to the Palestinians in exchange for peace with Israel.


5 posted on 06/22/2013 4:31:58 PM PDT by NoLibZone (None here can be puzzled by why Jews walked into the cars so quietly-we are walking up the planks.)
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To: naturalman1975

Mud huts are “infrastructure” and worth a UK Soldier’s life?


6 posted on 06/22/2013 4:32:18 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (Guns kill people, pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk & spoons make you fat.)
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To: naturalman1975

7 posted on 06/22/2013 4:33:41 PM PDT by Errant
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To: naturalman1975

That’s what happens when you don’t fight a war to win it.

I vote that we add an amendment to the US Constitution - no more wars unless we are willing to fight it to win. Namby-pamby, “win the hearts” crap. It jut gets our men and women killed, and makes no long-term positive difference.


8 posted on 06/22/2013 4:33:53 PM PDT by TheBattman (Isn't the lesser evil... still evil?)
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To: naturalman1975
I'm perfectly fine with restrictive ROE...

...provided the people who draft and approve them personally participate in every patrol, mission and operation in which they are in effect.

9 posted on 06/22/2013 4:33:58 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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To: NoLibZone

The Palestinians are a disease on Mankind; Israel should nuke them and eliminate it for good.


10 posted on 06/22/2013 4:34:56 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (Guns kill people, pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk & spoons make you fat.)
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To: carriage_hill

We are ruled by crazy people.


11 posted on 06/22/2013 4:35:02 PM PDT by winner3000
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To: naturalman1975

WAR IS MUD


12 posted on 06/22/2013 4:35:02 PM PDT by bunkerhill7 (("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione.))
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To: naturalman1975

I thought the whole point of war was to make it so devastating and horrific for the other side that they would not pursue it. Fight to win, period.


13 posted on 06/22/2013 4:43:20 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: naturalman1975

The West’s “Rules of Engagement” show a clear refusal to do what is necessary to DEFEAT THE ENEMY!

Given that, we need to learn to stay home.

This, coming from someone who enlisted during Vietnam, at age 17.


14 posted on 06/22/2013 4:50:19 PM PDT by G Larry (Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Psalms 109:8)
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To: G Larry

And there is THIS from last December:

Obama To Troops: Don’t Insult The Taliban
12/14/2012 06:56 PM ET

The administration blames U.S. troop rudeness for insider attacks by Afghan training partners. So it’s issuing an etiquette book ordering them not to criticize “pedophilia” and other things Islamic....

In fact, a draft Army handbook advises troops against insulting not just sacred Islamic figures but the Taliban themselves. The 75-page manual lists among “taboo topics” of conversation between U.S. troops and their Afghan counterparts “making derogatory comments about the Taliban.”

Also off-limits: “advocating women’s rights,” “any criticism of pedophilia,” “mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct” or “anything related to Islam.”

Read More At Investor’s Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/121412-637206-troops-gagged-from-criticizing-taliban-or-islam.htm#ixzz2Wzb2UiNO


15 posted on 06/22/2013 4:55:57 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: naturalman1975
This story makes me nauseous.
16 posted on 06/22/2013 4:59:36 PM PDT by originalbuckeye (Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy)
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To: BenLurkin

“Don’t Insult The Taliban”

What an asshat!

YOU have them SHOOTING AT THEM TO KILL THEM!

Why are you concerning the troops about “insults”?

Do you have some stupid notion that you might convert them?


17 posted on 06/22/2013 5:01:29 PM PDT by G Larry (Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Psalms 109:8)
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To: G Larry

Hussein wishes for Americans to convert to Islam.


18 posted on 06/22/2013 5:04:54 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: blueunicorn6

The businessman’s view: Wars are fought nowadays to utilize supplies and equipment and further the sales of more. This enriches the national manufacturing economy and therefore is proper .

The politicians view: The soldiers loss of life or limb is just a side cost of doing business in a war zone.


19 posted on 06/22/2013 6:27:53 PM PDT by B4Ranch (AGENDA: Grinding America Down ----- http://vimeo.com/63749370)
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To: Joe 6-pack

When I got back from OIF my wife saw a copy of our ROE/ She was really pissed!!


20 posted on 06/22/2013 6:32:51 PM PDT by jesseam (eliev)
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