U.S. soldiers operating near Marjah said the Taliban can fire on them, then set aside their weapon and walk freely out of a compound, possibly toward a weapons cache in another location.
A few crafty, determined insurgents can keep a larger force engaged for hours with some degree of impunity.
"The inability to stop people who don't have weapons is the main hindrance right now," said 1st Lt. Gavin McMahon of Brooklyn, N.Y. McMahon. "They know how to use our ROE against us," referring to the Rules of Engagement.
Insanity. Can you imagine these ROE’s at Normandy or Iwo Jima!!
Obama’s fault!
Afghanistan is Obama’s baby now.
The ROE situation is likely much worse than what we hear about.
Any word from the left yet about Obama being a ruthless murderer and war criminal?
Makes me wanna puke.......ROE.....fire comes from building, kill building, boom.... next.......
Oh my..../s
Cheney’s fault!
I was hoping those RoE’s would not be in use during this particular operation.
obama is an a**. The ROE he has imposed in Afghanistan is directly responsible for many needless injuries and deaths. That is American deaths. I’m sure obama feels he is saving lives, unfortunately, they are enemy lives.
It’s really time to start the impeachment process and get this pathetic traitor out of office. I just can’t imagine taking orders from a CIC like Zero.
Thanks for the ping.
McChrystal is an incompetent ass. Anyway, a little birdie told me that some Marines on the ground don’t care much about “rules of engagement”. “Better to be judged by a panel of six than bagged by a party of two”, is their motto.
Un frikkin believable. What candy-ass pie in the sky Kumbaya ROE!
“US rockets kill 12 Afghan civilians in offensive as Marines scour for bombs”
They are having a hard time locating weapons under all the rubble.
“hardcore Taliban fighters and civilians unsure where to cast their loyalty.”
Do the Taliban really think they have a winning side?
The RoE should be protested, vehemently, if our Marines find some guy with his face covered, more than likely he’s a bad guy, kill them.
So let me get this straight. Obama won a nobel PEACE prize and is now responsible for the indiscriminate murder of Afghani Civilians during a military offensive? Where is the outrage, where is the anti-war movement. Why are liberals allowed this outrageous hypocrisy? They did everything in their power to undermine George W. Bush in the GWOT.
They owe him an apology.
Civilian casualties are unfortunate and to be avoided whenever they can be. However, better them than our men and women. We wouldn’t be there if they didn’t tolerate fools in their midst.
So I take it this ROE was dictated by McChrystal? If that’s true, then I’ll be polite and just say that I have a very low opinion of him.
You can bet GEN McChrystal is FUMING mad about these civilian KIAs...not about the RoE thing, though...
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't. "
"There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."
-General George S. Patton, Jr.
As of 2/13/10 we have lost 273 Soldiers ,Sailors , Marines and AirMen since the change in the rules of engangement on July 2 ,2009.
That is more than we lost in the first five years in Afghanistan.
Since 0 has taken office we have lost more than the equivalent of the first 6 years fighting in Afghanistan.
2009 casualties 317 + 2010 casualties 43 = 360
(2001)12 + (2002) 49 + (2003) 48 + (2004) 52 + (2005) 99 + (2006) 98 = 358
The ROE are killing and maiming our men daily.
They have names . You can see them here
http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/Nationality.aspx?hndQry=US
Pray for our troops