Posted on 09/16/2009 9:17:37 AM PDT by the anti-liberal
NATO-led forces are investigating the death of four Marines in eastern Afghanistan after their commanders reportedly rejected requests for artillery fire in a battle with insurgents, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Tuesdays incident was under investigation and details remained unclear, press secretary Geoff Morrell told a news conference.
A McClatchy newspapers journalist who witnessed the battle reported that a team of Marine trainers made repeated appeals for air and artillery support after being pinned down by insurgents in the village of Ganjgal in eastern Kunar province.
The U.S. troops had to wait more than an hour for attack helicopters to come to their aid and their appeal for artillery fire was rejected, with commanders citing new rules designed to avoid civilian casualties, the report said.
Morrell said the helicopters were not hampered by any restrictions on air power but had to travel a long distance to reach the Marines at the remote location near the Pakistan border.
I think that it did take some time for close air support to arrive in this case, but this is not a result of more restrictive conditions in which it can be used, he said.
It was the result, as is often the case in Afghanistan, of the fact that there are great distances often between bases where such assets are located and where our troops are out operating.
Morrell could not confirm whether appeals for artillery fire were denied by commanders.
According to the McClatchy report by Jonathan Landay, the U.S. advisors assisting Afghan forces had been assured before the operation that air cover would be five minutes away.
The incident comes after the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, issued new restrictions on the use of military force and air raids in a bid to prevent civilian deaths.
I'm coming to suspect that 0 is using liberalism and marxism and the Cloward-Piven Strategy as cover and a tool in a Machiavellian effort to bring America to it knees for an islamic conquest of the country.
Helping muslims kill US soldiers is just icing on his cake.
Cloward-Piven Strategy, aka Cloven-Piven (which is it? I don't know):
The strategy of forcing political change through orchestrated crisis. The "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.
I sense a liberal chicken sh&* president has his mark on the rules of engagement.
And people SERIOUSLY wonder why our military is suing to verify the President is eligible to serve? He is sending our troops to SLAUGHTER. Literally tying their hands and marching them into the line of fire.
This is treason. Please God, let someone who doesn’t hate Republicans so much that they will let this nation fall to keep the Republicans from ‘winning’ come forward and lead the Democrats out of this nightmare.
It doesn't take an hour for an artillery shell to arrive on target.
My gosh, the liberals are indeed creating another Vietnam!
Add to that: the long form birth certificate - are our soldiers acting on lawfully given orders from a constitutionally qualified CIC?
Let’s see, who was the President during the Mogadishu incident? Oh yeah, a democrat named Clinton.
This policy came from OBAMA, not the general on the ground.
Yes, you are correct. I was looking for a reference, but I should be working, not posting. Maybe later.
Say.. where Cindy Sheehan? Shouldn't she be jumping up and down about 0's war on our soldiers, or something like that?
Was there no plan "B" for air cover in the plan of the Generals ?
If only there had been a ‘Plan B’ when Anne Dunham woke up the next morning - she (and the US) wouldn’t have had to suffer such punishment. I’m sure 0 would’ve approved had he been born, had that happened... or something like that.
Lt General Gilmary Hostage held a press availability at the height of the Town Halls.
So, this was overlooked.
Except by Freepers.
Lt General Hostage is in charge of the kinder, gentler air war over Afghanistan.
He calls this strategy of allowing the Taliban to escape unharmed
“ Buzz Not Bomb. “
“The first thing we do is fly over head, and the bad guys know airpower is in place and oftentimes that’s enough.
That ends the fight, they vamoose,”
“The A-10 has a very distinct sound.
The cannon on an A-10 is horrifically capable and our adversaries know it. When they hear the sound of an A-10, they scatter.”
Hostage quoted General McChrystal ordering:
, “If you are in a situation where there’s a civilian at risk,
he’d rather have us back away
than pressing to engage the enemy and run the risk of damaging or hurting somebody.”
Hostage, McChrystal and Obama are all about befriending the locals and winning them over,
rather than defeating the Taliban.
I call it Obama’s “ Have You Hugged a Taliban, Today ? “ strategy of warfare.
Or I “ heart “ the Taliban.
“In a circumstance where I’m only able to blow things up, I’m pretty limited in what I can do,” Hostage said.
“If I use graduated measures, then there are many things I can do to affect the situation.”
God forbid we blow things up or break things or hurt the enemy in war.
A friend of mine was seeing his Marine son off to Afghanistan.
He told his son-” Kill the enemy before they kill you.”
His son replied,” I can’t do that Dad ( going on the offensive in war ),
I’d be court martialed.”
A friend of mine was seeing his Marine son off to Afghanistan.This needs to be thrown into the faces of all congress members, and especially in 0's face.
He told his son- Kill the enemy before they kill you.
His son replied, I cant do that Dad (going on the offensive in war),
Id be court martialed.
Based on BHO facial characteristics,
I almost positive that his father was
Frank Marshall Davis the communist.
Be interesting if that’s on the long form BC!
He has ordered no air cover nor artillery cover for our brave youth. This is criminal ! McChrystal has never been in combat or he would have CIB. Some gnarly crusty colonel called people like this If I read this correctly McChrystal is plunging our US Marines
into 19 century Afghanistan to be slaughtered like the British.
politically correct perfumed princes of the pentagon.
A very apt description.
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.