Dithering toward defeat

OUR fortunes in Iraq began to turn around when the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment ran a classic counterinsurgency operation in the town of Tal Afar, between Mosul and the Syrian border.

The nine-month campaign, begun in May of 2005, turned an al Qaeda stronghold into one of the most peaceful, pro-Western communities in Iraq. It “will serve as a case study in classic counterinsurgency, the way it is supposed to be done,” a retired intelligence officer told the Washington Post's Tom Ricks.

The 3rd ACR's success in Tal Afar was a product of the brains and courage of its commander, then colonel, now Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster.

A decade before, General McMaster had displayed brains and courage of a different sort with the publication of his book, Dereliction of Duty. The thesis of the book is that members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff knew that President Lyndon Johnson and his Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara were pursuing a strategy in Vietnam based on domestic political concerns that was likely to lead to defeat, but none resigned in protest. All preferred keeping their jobs to their country's honor and the welfare of their troops.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the man President Obama chose to command in Afghanistan, may soon face the kind of test of character the Vietnam-era Joint Chiefs failed. General McChrystal has made clear what he thinks is needed to turn around our deteriorating fortunes there. But Mr. Obama is reluctant to commit the resources necessary to implement the strategy he signed off on in March.

General McChrystal wants to implement a counterinsurgency strategy like that which worked in Iraq. He says he needs up to 40,000 more troops to do it. He sent an urgent request for them at the end of August, but the President has dithered.

This is a compilation of several previous posts:

In ALL of our years in Afghanistan, there have NEVER been this number of American deaths no matter what the season. And it isn’t just us. Other countries are experiencing the same thing. It IS MCCHRYSTAL and his changes to the ROE that have caused this. HIS changes.
NATO Commanders have complained bitterly about how badly they have been hamstrung.
bam could give less of a damn. He fiddles and plays at being intelligent while our Troops die!
This has been a strategic mess from start to finish and it was PLANNED. If you can get the American people to clamor for an end to this war, you can walk away and leave ANOTHER RADICAL ISLAMIC STRONGHOLD which is what obama is all about from day ONE!
McChrystal was picked for his “hearts and minds” strategy that killed millions of Vietnamese and 10s of thousands of Americans back in the day. He was HANDPICKED because he was bitter about not being promoted under the Bush Administration, therefore, in order to get his Stars, he could be COUNTED on to go along to get along.
He has done immense damage to the morale of our Troops in theatre. He is a disgrace to the uniform and should be court martialled for his malfeasance.
If you think for a second he went there for any other reason, you have not been paying attention.
obama knows freaking NOTHING about war or the Rules of War.
He knows how to follow directions. He can’t make a decision on his own.
He listened to his “advisors” to Mirandize and allow legal representation to prisoners of war, but the ROE belong to McChrystal. I have posted them here a half dozen times.
McChrystal even suggested that our Troops NOT wear their body armor to show “trust” to the Afghans.
Please!!!
http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/official_texts/Tactical_Directive_090706.pdf

Here is a letter about the ROE’s USMC (26 years) Veteran John Bernard wrote to his Congressman Mike Michaud on 7/23/09. His son Lance Cpl Joshua Bernard’s unit was ambushed by the Taliban on 8/14/09 only a few short weeks after the letter had been sent.

The Lancy Cpl. was fatally wounded in the attack. It was all caught in a photograph taken by Julie Jacobson, on assignment from the Associated Press, and published and distributed, regardless of the pleas of his father John Bernard and the rest of the Lance Cpl.’s family NOT to publish it ( it is a war crime in my book, but that’s another story):

The original letter written by John Bernard:

Congressman Mike Michaud 7/23/2009 08:01
1724 Longworth HOBWashington, DC 20515-1902

Dear Sir;

I am writing to you today as an American citizen, 26 year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, committed Christian, Husband, Father of two and a businessman. I am also writing to you as the Father of a Marine who is, as all of his brothers in arms are, in harms way. That by itself is not a cause for concern for me because as a Warrior I understand two things:(1) it is the very nature of the calling to which we have been called that we will be thrust into dangerous, even life threatening situations to fight the enemies of our country and (2) that there could not possibly be a safer place to be than in the company of fellow Marines. In any case, that is the nature of the business and those who serve in this capacity have long since dealt with the realities of life in uniform.

There are, however, certain expectations, an unspoken trust within the ranks of those of us who serve and have served in this capacity. One of those is that we have a belief that as Americans, our leadership will not frivolously spend our blood on unworthy pursuit. To those of us who serve, let me be very clear to those of you who hold our lives in your hands; this means that the reason we may die can ultimately be defined as protecting homeland, family and fellow American lives (spelled US citizens). We also assume we will not be used as pawns in some personal vendetta or worse some career building scheme; that we will not be asked to spill our blood in a foreign land to defend the indefensible. We expect we will be able to do that for which we were trained; export violence with ferocity and drive our enemies to their knees with the ultimate goal of ending the conflict by forcing them to do our will. Such are the dreams and aspirations of the Warrior. Men like this seek to serve side by side with like-minded men prepared to meet their destiny on the field of battle; living a life of honor while testing personal courage in the forge of combat. Our nations Warriors have no other expectations, no visions of grandeur, no careers to bolster, no kingdoms to lord over, no sovereignty to subvert. These men just seek to serve their country.

Now that you have ever so basic an understanding of the intrinsic nature of the Warrior; I hope to encourage you to show them at least the dignity of thoughtful and painstaking decision-making when considering when and where to thrust them into the fires of hell. My demand is that you emphatically understand that this decision will have eternal consequences for the men involved and their families. I also expect this decision to be for the simple reason of defense of country and countrymen (again spelled United States Citizens).

If any part of you still understands that you were sent to Washington DC for the sole purpose of defending these shores and to defend the ‘life, liberty and pursuit of happiness’ of the citizens of this nation; and if you still believe you are first a servant of all, then you yet may possess the ability to understand the immorality of what I am about to share with you and the necessity to change this policy NOW.

President Obama has seen fit to replace the sitting ISAF commander with a General McChrystal (see Bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_A._McChrystal). Suffice it to say that Gen McChrystal’s understanding of the Warrior ethos is somewhat askew from the mainstream. Also let us cut to the chase and identify him more as a political mouthpiece than a field commander. Add to this the dubious addition of General James L. Jones (see bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Jones), who unlike McChrystal has actual combat experience but still shares the same ultimate goals and one world vision as both McChrystal and Obama.

What you have here is an unholy trinity injecting their shared philosophy of ‘spare the civilians at all cost’ – even though those civilians are not US citizens and are in fact complicit in their own misfortune. The new ROE presented by McChrystal and under which operation Khanjar was mounted is nothing less than disgraceful, immoral and fatal for our Marines, Sailors and Soldiers on the ground. The Marines and Soldiers that are ‘holding’ territories of dubious worth like Now Zad and Golestan without reinforcement, denial of fire-support and refusal to allow them to hunt and kill the very enemy we are there to confront are nothing more than sitting ducks. Denying them even the ability to fight, which is their only purpose for existing, to defend themselves in a foreign land that sees them first as agents of the devil is detestable to the secular world and immoral to the rest of us. And for those of us with ‘vested interests’ thrust into that foreign land; it angers us.

The links I have provided will give you some indication of the insanity of the current situation and the suicidal position this administration has placed these Warriors in. I admonish this administration and all those currently in public office whom we have entrusted with our security, well-being and the very lives and well-being of the best of us, our Warriors to start acting like you actually care or even understand the consequences of ludicrous decisions like this one. I then hold you responsible to actively seek to change this immoral policy to one that allows our Warriors the opportunity to do what they were trained to do; destroy our enemies and protect our citizenry.”

“Let Them Fight or Bring Them Home”

http://letthemfight.blogspot.com/

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