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Obama’s Rules Of Engagement In Afghanistan Costing Our Troops Lives
Flopping Aces ^ | 09-09-09 | Curt

Posted on 09/09/2009 4:58:52 PM PDT by Starman417

Four Marines died yesterday in Afghanistan when the Taliban laid a trap:

Four U.S. Marines died Tuesday when they walked into a well-laid ambush by insurgents in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province. Seven Afghan troops and an interpreter for the Marine commander also died in the ambush and the subsequent battle, which lasted seven hours.

Three American service members and 14 Afghan security force members were wounded.

It was the largest number of American military trainers to die in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The battle took place around the remote hamlet of Gangigal, in a valley about six miles from the Pakistani border, after local elders invited the U.S. and Afghan forces for a meeting.

American officers said there was no doubt that they’d walked into a trap, as the insurgents were dug in at the village, and had preset their weapons and their fields of fire.

It was a trap alright....but one they could of extradited themselves out of if not for the rules of engagement laid out by Obama's General, General Stanley McChrystal:

Airstrikes by coalition forces in Afghanistan have dropped dramatically in the three months Gen. Stanley McChrystal has led the war effort there, reflecting his new emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties and protecting the population.

NATO fixed-wing aircraft dropped 1,211 bombs and other munitions during the past three months — the peak of the fighting season — compared with 2,366 during the same period last year, according to military statistics. The nearly 50% decline in airstrikes comes with an influx of more than 20,000 U.S. troops this year and an increase in insurgent attacks.

The shift is the result of McChrystal’s new directives, said Air Force Col. Mark Waite, an official at the air operations center in southwest Asia. Ground troops are less inclined to call for bombing or strafing runs, though they often have an aircraft conduct a “show of force,” a flyby to scare off insurgents, or use planes for surveillance, Waite said.

The Marines who were killed were not the ones less inclined to call for a bombing run, in fact they were depending on it to get them out of the trap....and none came:

(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 0bamasfault; afghanistan; kunar; marine; obamasfault; quagmire; roe
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To: Nachum

Somalia. Blackhawk Down.


21 posted on 09/09/2009 7:24:03 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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To: MestaMachine

Clinton was impeached. If the Senate had been majority Republican he would have been out on his ear.


22 posted on 09/09/2009 7:35:01 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: MestaMachine

I know Mesta. I feel the same way. I’m trying to channel my anger and frustration today productively, as I know you are. At the very least, McChrystal needs to go. Someone needs to lose their rank and retirement over these Marines deaths. That is an absolute necessity.


23 posted on 09/09/2009 7:45:41 PM PDT by 444Flyer (May God Bless and protect our Boots on the ground!)
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To: Starman417; Nachum; MestaMachine; All

“In Flanders Fields”

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)


24 posted on 09/09/2009 7:57:17 PM PDT by 444Flyer (May God Bless and protect our Boots on the ground!)
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To: Nachum

Clinton was impeached. But what happened to him. He was found not guilty. Nothing happened. He committed perjury. Nothing happened. He prevented the intel agencies from communicating which led to 9/11. He robbed the National Archives and destroyed classified documents. What happened to clinton? He left office and became a Bush Brother. THAT’S what happened to clinton.


25 posted on 09/09/2009 8:23:35 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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To: MestaMachine
Clinton was impeached. But what happened to him

If the Senate had been majority Republican he would have been out of office.

26 posted on 09/09/2009 8:26:48 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: 444Flyer

Did you see “We Were Soldiers Once, And Young?”
There was a song by Clan an Drumma, “Sgt. MacKenzie.” I bought the whole CD just for that track. It is haunting. It goes through my head every time one of our Troops fall. Remember Me. That is what I keep thinking. All these Soldiers. So much pain and for what?
I don’t know. And they don’t either. It hurts so much.
So we remember. And that just is not enough. Not for this.


27 posted on 09/09/2009 8:35:37 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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To: Nachum

But it wasn’t and HE wasn’t and nothing happened to him except that he is a very wealthy criminal now.


28 posted on 09/09/2009 8:38:51 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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To: MestaMachine
But it wasn’t and HE wasn’t and nothing happened to him except that he is a very wealthy criminal now.

True. This is why the next election is very important.

29 posted on 09/09/2009 8:40:13 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: MestaMachine; Saoirise; Nachum; All

“We were Soldiers-Sgt.MacKenzie”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq3a_7242Lc&feature=related


30 posted on 09/09/2009 8:44:43 PM PDT by 444Flyer (May God Bless and protect our Boots on the ground!)
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To: 444Flyer

Isn’t that the most haunting song you have ever heard? I haven’t been able to shake it ever since the first time I heard it.
Remember me. Remember me. It just goes ‘round and ‘round. I pray for our Troops. I am trying to reach a voice who can speak louder than I. Pray G-d someone hears.


31 posted on 09/09/2009 9:00:40 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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To: MestaMachine

I do recall the song in the background of that film...it is haunting.

It is a Memorial.


32 posted on 09/09/2009 9:04:18 PM PDT by 444Flyer (May God Bless and protect our Boots on the ground!)
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To: Nachum

Oh, Nachum. You don’t know how hard I pray there will even BE a next election.


33 posted on 09/09/2009 9:04:25 PM PDT by MestaMachine (One if by land, 2 if by sea, 3 if by Air Force 1.)
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To: MestaMachine

We don’t know the names of those Marines or where they were deployed from yet do we?


34 posted on 09/09/2009 9:06:23 PM PDT by 444Flyer (May God Bless and protect our Boots on the ground!)
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To: MestaMachine
You don’t know how hard I pray there will even BE a next election.

Be of good cheer. We are never given a challenge greater than we can face. :)

35 posted on 09/09/2009 10:46:00 PM PDT by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: Starman417

"Obama has decided that the new rules of engagement require our troops not to engage the enemy or return fire unless they can guarantee that no civilians will be hurt or killed and that they must withdraw (retreat) when they are attacked."

Click Here

36 posted on 10/01/2009 1:50:45 PM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!
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To: ArtyFO
The 105MM was the Infantry’s best friend in my day.

We have much better options today. Ever watch the Military Channel?

37 posted on 10/01/2009 2:27:14 PM PDT by itsahoot (Each generation takes to excess, what the previous generation accepted in moderation.)
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To: MestaMachine; Starman417; Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori
That would be clinton. And NOTHING happened to him.

Not exactly, he got re-elected.

38 posted on 10/01/2009 2:31:29 PM PDT by itsahoot (Each generation takes to excess, what the previous generation accepted in moderation.)
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To: Nachum
Clinton was impeached.

Not for Blackhawk Down. For going down I guess.

39 posted on 10/01/2009 2:33:13 PM PDT by itsahoot (Each generation takes to excess, what the previous generation accepted in moderation.)
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To: MestaMachine
You don’t know how hard I pray there will even BE a next election.

That has been my fear, since before the election.

That Traitor McCain told us we have nothing to fear from that man, Obama.

40 posted on 10/01/2009 2:38:00 PM PDT by itsahoot (Each generation takes to excess, what the previous generation accepted in moderation.)
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