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 UKs 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 sons life to protect the building, saying his pride in his sons 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 ...
Fight to win, or get out.
a mud hut is NOT worth this brave man's life
Islam is determined to destroy civilization.
What is it about this fight to the death that our “leaders” don’t understand?
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.
Mud huts are “infrastructure” and worth a UK Soldier’s life?
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.
...provided the people who draft and approve them personally participate in every patrol, mission and operation in which they are in effect.
The Palestinians are a disease on Mankind; Israel should nuke them and eliminate it for good.
We are ruled by crazy people.
WAR IS MUD
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.
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.
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
“Dont 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?
Hussein wishes for Americans to convert to Islam.
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.
When I got back from OIF my wife saw a copy of our ROE/ She was really pissed!!
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