Winning: Let 'Em Loose (Iraq, War on Terror -- gloves off)

Investors' Business Daily ^ | Jan. 10, 2007 | IBD

[FairOpinion]

An additional five divisions may not sound like a lot. But if we also change the "rules of engagement" that these troops are required to follow, that should be enough to quell the Sunni and Shiite militias that have brought death and disorder to Baghdad and Anbar provinces.

So-called ROEs are secret, but the outlines for how our military must operate in a war zone are well-known. In Iraq they're so stringent, it's reasonable to wonder how we can even wage war at all — especially against an enemy that recognizes no rules or morality in its own fighting.

This week's attack on al-Qaida in Somalia using C-130 gunships and killing the leader responsible for the 1998 embassy bombing suggests the gloves may finally be coming off. So does the assault by a 1,000-strong Marine force on a terrorist stronghold in Baghdad, killing 51 terrorists with no U.S. losses.

Those who think we can win a global war against Islamofascist fanatics by turning our soldiers into urban planners, aid administrators and project managers are wrong. Dead wrong. Their job is to kill the enemy and create secure conditions on the ground so a civilian government can flourish. All this time we've had it backward.

"War is all hell," said Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Let the surge begin so our enemies will learn that firsthand.

[FairOpinion]

I hope this is indeed our new strategy in Iraq and in the War on Terror: KILL the terrorists.

[pissant]

It sure sounds like it.

[FairOpinion]

I just found this great cartoon also at IBD:

[endthematrix]

BUMP!

[pissant]

That is a KEEPER. LOL

[Allegra]

LOVE IT!!

[FairOpinion]

Another good illustration posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach:

[DakotaRed]

Unleashing our troops and letting them fight, as they train, is a real good step. At the same time, though, we need to do something with the Flaq Waving Democrats

[indianrightwinger]

Similar things have been said on FR for the longest time by pundits like us. It is good to finally see this type of thinking and plan percolate into the Administration's plan and publications like IBD.

Shame it took SO LONG.

I will really be sold on the President's new plan when I read in the news soon that Muqtada is dead!

[pissant]

I think that is DO the Dhue's, but it's pretty swell.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I borrowed it from do the dhue

[jazusamo]

LOL! That is a keeper.

[RacerX1128]

But if we also change the "rules of engagement"

---

They read my post yesterday :)

[MilesVeritatis]

At my signal, unleash Hell!

[nopardons]

BTTT

[M. Espinola]

[2001convSVT]

Great image, great movie, great lessons. Honor, trust, fidelity!

[do the dhue]

And I borrowed it from http://www.cafepress.com/rightwingstuff/256239

[cowdog77]

"We should do what the Israelis do. If someone plants an IED, you should bulldoze their house'," says Lieutenant Colonel Jim Donnellan, US Marine commander of Haditha."
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IF we proceed to fight as though we were in a REAL war, THEN I will support the Iraq effort. Yes, it is a shame we drug our feet over there for 5 years!! We should have gone in, got it done, and got out.