Thursday, February 18, 2010

Rules of Engagement: You're killing us.

This letter is self explanatory...

sent: 18 February 2010


Dear Mr. President,

As Commander in Chief, you are charged with defending this nation without sacrificing more American blood and treasure than is necessary to defeat the enemy. It is clear to me that there is an element of this missing; protecting the troops.

Protecting the troops brings at least one requirement; they must be able to destroy the enemy where they are found.

So far, the evidence of this simple concept happening in Afghanistan is lacking due to the rules of engagement we are told. These rules apparently prohibit our troops from killing or capturing Taliban fighters in many circumstances.

The sad fact is that many people will die, suffer crippling injuries and be traumatized by war. The best we can do to minimize the horror of war is to allow our troops to fight the war to win as quickly as possible. But these rules are hamstringing our troops. Reports Americans are hearing tell stories of our troops observing targets (buildings) for as long 72 hours before taking any action. Others say that during a firefight, the enemy will put down their weapons and simply walk away from our forces and our troops are required to let them go. They cannot be detained, captured or have any force used against them.

This policy will only prolong the war along with the suffering for both the Afghan people and our troops and their families. Not to mention the additional cost incurred by prolonging the fighting.

I understand the rules of engagement are designed to help win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. But we are going about it the wrong way. The Afghans respect power and the willingness to fight for your cause and they spit on slackers and cowards. Before you win their confidence you will have to demonstrate that we can protect them from the Taliban and the way to do that is by destroying or capturing Taliban fighters whenever we engage them. Having the local population observe the Taliban fighters literally thumbing their noses at us while they stroll away from the battlefield is winning nothing.

I hope you take this letter seriously and reconsider the rules of engagement as I send it with the best of intentions.

Thank you for your service.