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Walter Williams: Unnecessary Loss of Life
Creators Syndicate ^ | September 30, 2015 | Walter E. Williams

Posted on 09/29/2015 10:50:54 AM PDT by jazusamo

War is nasty, brutal and costly. In our latest wars, many of the casualties suffered by American troops are a direct result of their having to obey rules of engagement created by politicians who have never set foot on — or even seen — a battlefield. Today's battlefield commanders must be alert to the media and do-gooders who are all too ready to demonize troops involved in a battle that produces noncombatant deaths, so-called collateral damage.

According to a Western Journalism article by Leigh H Bravo, "Insanity: The Rules of Engagement" (http://tinyurl.com/p59nlqs), our troops fighting in Afghanistan cannot do night or surprise searches. Also, villagers must be warned prior to searches. Troops may not fire at the enemy unless fired upon. U.S. forces cannot engage the enemy if civilians are present. And only women can search women. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said: "We handcuffed our troops in combat needlessly. This was very harmful to our men and has never been done in U.S combat operations that I know of." Collateral damage and the unintentional killing of civilians are a consequence of war. But the question we should ask is: Are our troops' lives less important than the inevitable collateral damage?

The unnecessary loss of life and casualties that result from politically correct rules of engagement are about to be magnified in future conflicts by mindless efforts to put women in combat units. In 2013, then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially lifted the ban on women serving in ground combat roles. On Jan. 1, 2016, all branches of the military must either open all positions to women or request exceptions. That boils down to having women serve in combat roles, because any commander requesting exceptions would risk having his career terminated in the wake of the screeching and accusations...

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; armyrangers; combat; lossoflife; mabus; navyseals; obama; pc; roe; rulesofengagement; usmilitary; war; women
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1 posted on 09/29/2015 10:50:54 AM PDT by jazusamo
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To: jazusamo

This is why the casualty rate in Afghanistan under Obama was massively higher than under Bush. We didn’t let our troops defend their selves.


2 posted on 09/29/2015 10:53:47 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: jazusamo

Out troops are hog tied.


3 posted on 09/29/2015 10:55:13 AM PDT by Darroll
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To: jazusamo

Working exactly or better than obama couldve ever hoped.


4 posted on 09/29/2015 11:01:12 AM PDT by uncitizen (Make America Great Again!)
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To: uncitizen

Sadly you’re exactly right.


5 posted on 09/29/2015 11:05:31 AM PDT by jazusamo (0bama to go 'full-Mussolini' after elections: Mark Levin....and the turkey has.)
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To: Darroll
This is all the result of crack-pots, who put their insane social agendas--for example, the make believe world in which sexual realities must be ignored;--their crack-pot agendas ahead of military reality.

Egalitarianism is a major component in the Leftist War on Reality. It is a compulsion driven lunacy, that intimidates people into refusing to learn from their own or anybody else's experience; convincing them that it is idealistic & altruistic to believe and to force others to believe that we all are equal in ability & personality, and thus basically interchangeable.

Nothing could be further from the truth; and the sight of young women returning maimed from a battle field ought to goad every decent person into denouncing this insanity at every opportunity.

6 posted on 09/29/2015 11:06:01 AM PDT by Ohioan
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To: jazusamo

The enemy doesn’t care about collateral damage. They hide among innocent so-called moderate muslims, who also hate us.


7 posted on 09/29/2015 11:06:42 AM PDT by umgud
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To: umgud

You have to ruin their day so that they can’t ruin yours.


8 posted on 09/29/2015 11:10:29 AM PDT by refermech
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To: jazusamo

Not unlike LBJ and his Vietnam fiasco.

The real war criminal was LBJ who micromanage a war that had no end. Just fight and die...
Gonna fight a war? Plan to win.....we haven’t fought a war to win since 1945


9 posted on 09/29/2015 11:16:36 AM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: jazusamo

“But the question we should ask is: Are our troops’ lives less important than the inevitable collateral damage?”

There is no need to ask this question of the current administration, the answer is plain.

It’s why I would never encourage my kids to enlist, not until they have a CinC worthy of the risk they’d be taking.


10 posted on 09/29/2015 11:17:25 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: circlecity

Anyone agree with this? Make it MANDATORY to pass the following reality test.
Require all would=be SpecialForce/Seals, etc to carry, on their shoulder, a seriously wounded “buddy” from a realistic battlefield scenario. The Marine motto, “No one left behind” would have to be changed to “No one left behind, if possible.”
Consider, how many Silver and/or Bronze Stars were awarded to the Marine/Solder who carried that shot-up fellow, through enemy fire, to the safety of an aid station? And how many MEN want back and saved another buddy?
I guess that is deemed as not too important any more.
I may add that many sailors were decorated for carrying badly injured shipmates, through fire and explosions UP 2 or 3 decks to safety. Myself, I was 6’5” and 215 pounds and I wan’t the biggest sailor on the ship.
No affirmative action need apply.


11 posted on 09/29/2015 11:19:15 AM PDT by CaptainAmiigaf (New York Times: "We print the news as it fits our views.")
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To: jazusamo

Our local police have more latitude in engaging us than our troops have to engage the enemy.


12 posted on 09/29/2015 11:19:20 AM PDT by rey
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To: jazusamo

It is a set up...to destroy our military. The elites are demoralizing our troops, putting sodomites in charge (like the Nazis SS/SA and Bolsheviks) to de-Christianize the most moral military in the history of the World.

Machiavelli stated that promoting Virtue (Justice) in the Military is ESSENTIAL because of the nature of “power”. Now, we have our troops turning a blind eye to the most despicable use of little boys being raped by the sodomite muslims. And the first thing the US sodomite does, as CIC, is make bestiality and sodomy a “Virtue” when he takes office (making muslim ethics surpreme in our Western legal system LOL)— and given special status so he can kick out all Christians and pastors and put the immoral, evil people in charge.

Without Virtue, civil society (Freedom) collapses. Always. We have evil, vile people in charge of our military now-—and the SCOTUS needs to be in prison for promoting Vice in our Justice (virtue) System. It is Treason-—and as Cicero stated-—Unjust Law (evil irrational laws) will destroy the culture.


13 posted on 09/29/2015 11:24:31 AM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: jazusamo
There must be no 'boots on the ground' until and ONLY until the Rules of Engagement are changed to winning. I hear the hawks insisting of BOTG but never ever mentioning the Rules of Engagement....they can't be taken seriously.

Be sure your elected knows where you stand on this vital issue.

14 posted on 09/29/2015 11:24:46 AM PDT by yoe
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To: Vaquero

Amen, he and his SECDEF McNamara cost a lot of American lives.


15 posted on 09/29/2015 11:25:01 AM PDT by jazusamo (0bama to go 'full-Mussolini' after elections: Mark Levin....and the turkey has.)
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To: savagesusie

Bump


16 posted on 09/29/2015 11:28:07 AM PDT by jazusamo (0bama to go 'full-Mussolini' after elections: Mark Levin....and the turkey has.)
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To: jazusamo

McNamara. One of JFKs (then LBJs) “whiz kids”. A criminal who realized how screwed up he was in his golden years. Those GIs never made it to their golden years.


17 posted on 09/29/2015 11:43:19 AM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: jazusamo
"Are our troops' lives less important than the inevitable collateral damage?"

Unequivocally NO!!! I say we should have gone Dresden or Hiroshima on them long ago, starting with the first Gulf War, Aftganiscrap, Iraq, and now Syria and Iran.

No nation on this rock will respect us again and embrace peace like Germany/Japan until we absolutely devastate them. That includes the stubborn tribal types across the Middle East.

I have NO problem with Israel flattening Iran, collateral damage be damned, although I would feel for the pro-western Persians, but they had their chance.

Kill them all! and let America rebuild them into a American-fearing democracy or republic. I would gladly pay more taxes to witness the total destruction of these Mo-heads and pay more to rebuild within our original values. If they don't accept said values and act up, destroy them again.

As for Russia and China, they wouldn't want into the mix if we were that determined. They respect MAD. Our Tridents are out there and they know it. They'd condemn us in United Nations speeches, but who would care after such a devastating attack by Western Civilization? The whining and crying could go for decades. Who cares? We got rid the threat to Western Civilization which is the best.

Yes, I know I'm wishing for an economy busting scenario. I'm good with that if we can just get rid of these atrocious radical Muslims once and for all. Without their side-show, we would rebuild.

18 posted on 09/29/2015 11:44:29 AM PDT by A Navy Vet (An Oath is Forever)
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To: umgud
"The enemy doesn’t care about collateral damage. They hide among innocent so-called moderate muslims, who also hate us."

See my post just above.

19 posted on 09/29/2015 11:46:07 AM PDT by A Navy Vet (An Oath is Forever)
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To: Vaquero
Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam
20 posted on 09/29/2015 11:46:27 AM PDT by Pelham (It ain't over 'til it's over)
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