U.S. Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010.
Posted on 02/16/2010 2:06:03 PM PST by La Enchiladita
MARJAH, Afghanistan—U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers seized the site of Marjah's government offices, setting the stage for Kabul to attempt to resume its authority in a town long run by the Taliban.
In a full day of skirmishing, the troops took a former police station in central Marjah, as well as the ruined foundations of the former government center.
"The government will return to Marjah, and in short order," predicted Lt. Col. Calvin Worth, commander of 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.
Progress continued to be deliberate—at times slow—in the fourth day of what the U.S.-led coalition bills as its biggest offensive since the Taliban's fall in 2001, and a grand effort to oust insurgent fighters while restoring the credibility of the Afghan government.
On Tuesday, eight more civilians were killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan. Three died in shooting incidents in the assault on Marjah, while five others were killed in the province of Kandahar, where coalition troops erroneously decided that a group of Afghans were planting an explosive device along a trail.
...The U.S. and Afghan troops raised the Afghan flag above the old district center, which is now used as stalls for a weekly bazaar thought to bring the Taliban large of amounts of tax revenue.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
We have now killed 18 civilians and 5 taliban. What the hell are we doing?
U.S. Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010.
Yeah, to the progressive media, the only Afghans we kill are civilians. And they are NOT “homemade bombs”. They are improvised explosive devices, many of which are made in Iran and many are made in jihadi bomb factories.
Could you please explain in detail as to how in THIS situation “their CIC is keeping them off-balance with hands tied behind their backs.”
This is not an idle question. My son was there in 2006, and may go back soon.
Lack of support. He does not like the military. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it, and most importantly the troops know it.
Indecision. It took five months after the request for more troops for the increase to be approved by 0.
Rules of Engagement: Troops say it is hindering their effort.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-afghan-rigid-rules,0,1243336.story
He rarely ever visits with the troops.
That’s enough.
God bless our brave troops. I hope we use the same tactics we used in the very successful Iraq surge. What I expect is that the Taliban terrorists will lay low now and then start acting up again when April or May comes. Those are the typical tactics used by these Taliban terrorists subhuman cowards. I hope that we have enough troops to stay in Taliban stronghold to prevent them from re-surging.
Gob bless them all. Excellent work, men.
God Bless our troops each and every day!
The enemy hides behind the innocent. Our Marines put themselves between the innocent and the enemy.
The Taliban, cowardly bastards as they are, would've had the guy and child in front as shields.
They had government offices? I’m kind of impressed. I wonder what the funding is for the Department of Human Shields.
Great Job Marines! God Bless!
Although we should be raising the American flag until the Afghans can fight for themselves.
A friend of mine who was in Saudi Arabia during GW1 had a few thoughts I tend to agree with.
“Obama is probably the best friend our troops have had in the last 8 years.” “Bush/Cheney were bragging about how sophisticated our weapons were while sending out our troopss with inadequate body and vehicle armor.” “Just look how fast Pakistan started grabbing Taliba/AlQaida after O threated to withdraw our activity there.”
As to the 5 month delay, the troops are there and in action. They did not need to go there earlier because there is not much action in the Winter. And in fact they have probably made this assault a month or two early just to catch these guys off balance with regard to winter travel back to sanctuary.
Thanks for playing troll.
Personally, I question the use of the term: "civilians". In one case, where 12 died, the Marines were taking fire from a location that was then flattened by air. Those 12 were inside that location, along with the terrorists. Who were these 12? Human shields? Aiding and abetting the terrorist's? We don't know - so journalists assume that they were "innocent bystanders" in all of this to rack up the casualty count on our side. All we know is that they were in the same room as the others we have identified as Taliban and the Taliban were firing on us.
We returned fire. Its that simple.
May God protect these brave troops.
Looks like an 0-zer0 voter for sure.
I think ReyTurner might be a squishy libertarian; you know, a Ron Paul follower.
Did you read the whole article? After reading it I can understand why they did it. As the goal is turning the city into a good civilian run town, then we certainly don’t want to alienate them by killing and destroying property unnecessarily. I think the 3 questions the troops are to ask themselves make sense, particularly “will I make more enemies than I will kill by my action..” I certainly do sympathize with their frustration, especially as my son may have to operate under them in the future.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.