[Ispy4u]

I have agreed that preserving the lives of his men is a primary consideration to be planned and integrated in to any mission a commander has been assigned. You and others here are under the wrong headed thinking that it must be issue number one. Well that isn't the case. No leader wants his men to die, but the reality is in combat some will. A commander must plan his mission within the restrictions placed on him by his superiors, sometimes that makes the job tougher. Even the superiors who put the ROEs in place usually fear that those rules will enhace the danger to their men, but that can not affect a leaders judgement.

As more comes out on this, it will be shown that many of you presented outrage in the face of something you didn't understand and will look foolish for your attacks on those with more level heads.

[AndyJackson]

You and others here are under the wrong headed thinking that it must be issue number one....As more comes out on this, it will be shown that many of you presented outrage in the face of something you didn't understand

YOU and your pettyfogging military bureaucratic "the rules are the rules and orders are orders" kind think there is a dichotomy between mission accomplishment and protecting American lives, but that is based on pure unadulterated ignorance.

One of the things that I never do on this forum is assume that I have wisdom or knowledge superior to others on this forum, because there is always someone out there who turns out to be, quite legitimately, the world's leading authority on the case in question.

In your effort to stand up for the the rule of order and regs, you are standing up for something that you don't really understand, and in your inflated self-importance, you have taken on, as your interlocutors, a lot of retired senior military officers who frankly know a damn lot more about the intersection between mission and policy and regulation and getting the job done and protecting lives and expensive equipment than you ever dreamed of.

What you miss is that the charges brought against Col. West arise out of pure politics and the interference of politicians in the conduct of military operations. Those of us who have been there are going to scream like banshees until Bush and Rumsfeld put the 2* and 3* generals commanding the typing pool in their place and get them out of second guessing combat officers. If THEY, Bush and Rumsfeld, wanted things clean THEY should have stayed home. THEY didn't. THEY must understand the consequences - and not expect the needless sacrifice of lives that can be protected by appropriate actions of battlefield commanders, and not second guess the decisions of combat commanders who take steps to protect the lives of Americans.

Yes mission is important. But so are American lives. That is why we are a great country - because we protect our own, and risk American blood only for the most important of causes - and never ever ever sacrifice it needlessly with impunity. The two greatest American generals of modern history, MacArthur and Patton felt a sacred duty to keep combat casualties to the minimum. And they had nothing but derision for those who thoughtlessly threw away blood or treasure or equipment for no meaningful gain.