Posted on 02/27/2010 10:49:37 AM PST by HokieMom
THE Taliban have found a way to beat American airpower. And they have managed this remarkable feat with American help.
The consequences of this development are front and center in the current offensive in Marja, Afghanistan, where air support to American and Afghan forces has been all but grounded by concerns about civilian casualties.
American and NATO military leaders — worried by Taliban propaganda claiming that air strikes have killed an inordinate number of civilians, and persuaded by “hearts and minds” enthusiasts that the key to winning the war is the Afghan population’s goodwill — have largely relinquished the strategic advantage of American air dominance. Last July, the commander of Western forces, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, issued a directive that air strikes (and long-range artillery fire) be authorized only under “very limited and prescribed conditions.”
So in a modern refashioning of the obvious — that war is harmful to civilian populations — the United States military has begun basing doctrine on the premise that dead civilians are harmful to the conduct of war. The trouble is, no past war has ever supplied compelling proof of that claim.
In Marja, American and Afghan troops have shown great skill in routing the Taliban occupiers. But news reports indicate that our troops under heavy attack have had to wait an hour or more for air support, so that insurgents could be positively identified. “We didn’t come to Marja to destroy it, or to hurt civilians,” a Marine officer told reporters after waiting 90 minutes before the Cobra helicopters he had requested showed up with their Hellfire missiles. He’s right that the goal is not to kill bystanders or destroy towns, but an overemphasis on civilian protection is now putting American troops on the defensive in what is intended to be a major offensive.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Your error — and it is a big one — Is in thinking that Time is on our side. But of course it is not at all.
Everyday Islam is catching up to US more and more in technology and money.
Who needs SAM site and fighters to sweep the skies when you have a senior officer corps of spineless PC yes men and a socialist/muslim president? You just point out that airstikes are “culturally insensitive”. Our Government and PC Senior Officer Corps cringes in terror at the accusation.
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How very true!
If civilians are killed we make enemies.
This is what our smartest in the Pentagon are saying. It is laughable. We are in a war, a WAR. Civilians always get killed in a WAR. Everyone except the PC sensitized and nuetered understands and accepts this.
We will make enemies by not killing the bad guys and then leaving in two years. When the taliban walk back in, every single civilian will hate our guts because.....
for fear of accidentally killing civilians we purposely did not kill the Taliban.
The Afghan people understand war. Too bad the Pentagon doesn’t anymore.
Time is not on our side
Surprising that this is from the NYT. I can only pray that this strategy sorks because all common sense indicates it’s very dangerous for our troops and not necessarily a winning one.
Mr. Ron White was certainly correct about you. :-)
It was an excellent article. The author points out that fighting to win the Miss Congeniality contest is not saving lives, and oh, by the way, WTF were we thinking - a question shouted out on these pages when McCrystal decided to sugarcoat all further encounters.
Yes. That and the architect of “Just Lay Down And Let Em Pee On Ya” McCrystal
btw, how's things?
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