Free Republic

Today, January 13th, marks the thirty-eighth anniversary of the the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade. And despite of the media's attempt to elevate the anniversary date to red-letter status, the country is still sharply divided over the Court's decision. In fact, the number one question looming over any nominee to sit on the Supreme Court, well, any nominee by a Republican administration, is "how will they rule regarding Roe v. Wade?" So, did the Court rule judiciously in regards to the Constitution, or expeditiously in regards to an agenda? Let's go back and take...

http://icasualties.org/oef/

"We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We've lost today," Marine Maj. Kevin Williams told his Afghan translator as Afghan soldiers repeatedly asked for helicopter support. American military trainers and the Afghan soldiers they were working with had been pinned down by intense machine gun, rocket-propelled grenade, and mortar fire for several hours, and the artillery support they had been promised was being withheld by commanders at a nearby forward operating base. The combined force of 60 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers, 20 Afghan border police, and 13 U.S. trainers set out before...

(h/t Gateway Pundit) The utter hypocrisy in our media and on the left is on display with the above graph. The United States has now lost more military men and women in Afghanistan under President Obama than during 8 years of the Bush Administration. We couldn't go a day without frontpage headlines emblazoned across every paper and on every nightly newscast about the death toll in Iraq. Each new report vilifying Bush. Now? Not so much blame for our current President. Hmmmmm, I wonder why? Say Anything: A couple of years ago, every casualty in Iraq was front page news....

Some families of service members killed in the war say the rules of engagement protect Afghan civilians at the expense of American troops. U.S. combat tolls have peaked this summer. Bill and Beverly Osborn still can't bring themselves to erase the phone message from their son Ben. He had called from Afghanistan in June to assure them that he was safe. Four days later, he was killed in a Taliban ambush. The Osborns long ago accepted the risks faced by their son, an Army specialist. But what they can't accept now are the military rules of engagement, which they contend...

The servicemen say that the strict rules put them in greater danger, even as they aim to avoid civilian casualties.

WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan commander Army Gen. David Petraeus has renewed orders to American troops to refrain from calling in artillery or air power when battling Taliban forces unless they're certain that no civilians are present. The Aug. 1 order, Petraeus' first since he assumed command early this summer from ousted Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, was an effort to fine-tune a McChrystal directive that had angered some U.S. troops, who said the restrictions on the use of artillery and air power exposed them to greater danger. Petraeus' order, unclassified portions of which were released Wednesday, seemed unlikely to mollify that complaint,...

Washington, D.C. — It was the speediest nomination, Senate confirmation hearing and vote to affirm a presidential appointment since President Obama moved into the White House. Shortly after noon on June 30, just seven days after he was named to replace General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. Senate voted 99-0 to appoint General David Petraeus as the next commander of the International Security Assistance Force (COM-ISAF) in Afghanistan. He faces extraordinary challenges. Unfortunately, the O-Team isn't likely to make a tough job any easier. General Petraeus takes command in the midst of an increasingly difficult and bloody campaign. U.S. and NATO...

The US Report was one in a minority of voices in the political blogosphere months ago when we raised the issue of the Rules of Engagement for US forces, partly in response to reading milblogs as well as following dispatches filed by war correspondent Michael Yon. And Congress, at least, appears to be mindful. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) issued a statement on Friday after sending a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (MO-4) and Ranking Member Howard “Buck” McKeon (CA-25). Jones’ statement said he is “requesting a Full Committee classified hearing on Rules of Engagement and Tactical...

Fox News, outgoing Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s least favorite news channel (he banned it from the televisions in his HQ), reports that one of the first moves of incoming Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus will be to loosen the controversial rules of engagement in Afghanistan to allow more artillery and air strikes. Troops in Afghanistan complain they’re fighting with one hand tied behind their back because of the various “directives” issued by McChrystal restricting the use of indirect fires in an effort to curtail civilian casualties. Not so fast, reports Leo Shane with Stars and Stripes, who asked Petraeus’...

If finding Obama "not engaged," as Gen. McChrystal did, is now a firing offense, who among us is safe? What do Gen. McChrystal and British Petroleum have in common? Aside from the fact that they're both Democratic Party supporters. Or they were. Stanley McChrystal is a liberal who voted for Obama and banned Fox News from his HQ TV. Which may at least partly explain how he became the first U.S. general to be lost in combat while giving an interview to Rolling Stone: They'll be studying that one in war colleges around the world for decades. The management of...

General Petraeus has announced he will "adjust" or "modify" the Rules of Engagement governing the war in Afghanistan.

When enemy action kills our troops, it's unfortu nate. When our own moral fecklessness murders those in uniform, it's unforgivable. In Afghanistan, our leaders are complicit in the death of each soldier, Marine or Navy corpsman who falls because politically correct rules of engagement shield our enemies. Mission-focused, but morally oblivious, Gen. Stan McChrystal conformed to the Obama Way of War by imposing rules of engagement that could have been concocted by Code Pink: * Unless our troops in combat are absolutely certain that no civilians are present, they're denied artillery or air support. * If any civilians appear where...

The new rules of fighting a war....Obama style, via George F. Will: (h/t The Captain's Journal) … occasionally there are riveting communications, such as a recent e-mail from a noncommissioned officer (NCO) serving in Afghanistan. He explains why the rules of engagement for U.S. troops are “too prohibitive for coalition forces to achieve sustained tactical successes.” Receiving mortar fire during an overnight mission, his unit called for a 155mm howitzer illumination round to be fired to reveal the enemy’s location. The request was rejected “on the grounds that it may cause collateral damage.” The NCO says that the only thing...

The best war journalist of our time has been kicked out of Afghanistan... Let the administration boot Helen Thomas out of her seat in the front of a White House press conference and there would be outrage. Remove Jonathan Karl from the Capitol and media would revolt. Kick Andrea Kremer off Sunday Night Football and there would be pandemonium. And yet nobody in the media seems to have much of a problem with Michael Yon being removed from the front lines by Obama/General McChrystal. Yon has openly stated the problems in Afghanistan right now and how we could lose...

“While it is not our policy to comment on the specifics of those force protection measures, I can tell you that individual unit commanders have the flexibility and latitude to increase or decrease their force protection posture as needed and as appropriate for the situation,” Master Sergeant Brian Sipp, of CJTF-101 public affairs said in an e-mail. So Rumor Doctor gave ISAF public affairs the name of the unit in question. Shortly afterward, the soldier on the ground informed the Rumor Doctor that soldiers in his company were suddenly authorized to chamber a round outside the wire. RUMOR DOCTOR’S DIAGNOSIS:...

Commanders have reportedly ordered a U.S. military unit in Afghanistan to patrol with unloaded weapons. Some soldiers are being ordered to conduct patrols without a round chambered in their weapons, The US Report has learned from an anonymous source at a forward operating base in Afghanistan. Our source was unsure if the order came from his unit or if it affected other units. On war correspondent Michael Yon's Facebook page, commenters stated that this is a common practice in Iraq, while others said that it is occurring in Afghanistan as well. According to military protocol, “Amber” status requires weapons to...

More important, the public's issue focus has changed. And while the issue of whether to criminalize abortion tended to favor Democrats, the political issues that now raise constitutional questions tend to favor Republicans. Those are issues raised by the big government programs of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders, in particular by the health care legislation they jammed through Congress despite huge public opposition last month.

The recent battle in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province was a key test case for new rules of engagement that emphasized protecting civilians rather than killing insurgents. The town was taken, but whether that was because of the new rules or despite them remains to be seen. The rules of engagement are probably the most restrictive ever seen for a war of this nature. NATO forces cannot fire on suspected Taliban fighters unless they are clearly visible, armed and posing a direct threat. Buildings suspected of containing insurgents cannot be targeted unless it is certain that civilians are not also...

Normally, one would not find a connection between a critically negative UN Report on an Israeli military operation and the Rules of Engagement (ROE) imposed on American and NATO troops operating in another theater, namely Afghanistan. But is there some correlation, some linkage between the two? I think there very well may be one. Let us look at some particulars. In the Goldstone Report, any casualty found without a weapon was treated for all intents and purposes as a civilian. In Afghanistan, our troops are to refrain from discharging their weapons towards any target, even known terrorists from al-Queda and...