It seems like soooo long ago now, but at the beginning of this, when McChrystal first went over, I posted this:
The Afghan government is beyond corrupt. The people are far more isolated and tribal.
There is NO reason for our Troops to be battling for control of the poppy fields. If anyone was serious about stopping the growing of poppies, airstrikes to destroy the fields would be happening until they were GONE. We would not be sending good Marines in harm’s way under the pretense that we are trying to build an infrastucture for people who DO NOT WANT IT and will revert at the first possible minute.
And if we were serious about destroying Al Qaeda, the zone between Pakistan and Afghanistan would be a damn ditch where anything that moved would be dead within seconds.
Instead, we are propping up the radicals in Pakistan, controlling a corrupt government in Afghanistan, and OUR Troops are the front line.
NATO could give a damn.
Hamid Karzai agrees 99% of the time with the Taliban and against us and the ONLY thing of value in Afghanistan is drugs.
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The civilians in the villages that McChystal wants to reassure are upset and angry over these new ROE. They say it will make their situation worse, not better.
THEY say it is an open invitation to the taliban to take over peoples’ homes, surround themselves with women and children, and make their daily lives even more harsh than it already is.
There is more, but I am really, really tired right now.
I do not know what idiot came up with the ROE’s? When I read them quite some time ago I thought someone was joking. Then I followed the operation where the marines were dropped off in an area. I read a few days of reports until I was sick. Frankly,I thought he,the Gen, made those ROE’s?