U.S. Combat Officers Under Fire For American Troop Deaths Caused By Obama-McChrystal Hearts And Minds Policies
There is a saying in police work and in military service that certain very noxious, offensive substances always roll downhill. That is to say, foul-ups instigated by bad policy will always be blamed on the lowest possible links in the chain of command. Such is the case now in Afghanistan.
Diana West writes extensively about U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal's (pictured above with CIC Obama) "hearts and minds" Afghanistan counter-insurgency campaign: Sacrificing American lives by denying artillery and air support to our ground troops pinned down under heavy enemy fire is acceptable, because artillery and bombs may cause collateral damage to Afghanistan civilians.
Terrible as it is to contemplate the idea, it is the Obama-McChrystal policy. This cannot help troop morale in the ranks and files. And it's not going to bring an end to this Islamic-doctrinally driven war.It's time to get out of Afghanistan.
There's a story in today's Washington Post announcing increased disciplinary actions against U.S. field commanders' decisions during battles against the Taliban's Soldiers of Allah. The you-know-what is now rolling down the hill onto the heads of infantry platoon, company and brigade commanders:
The U.S. military has reprimanded an unusually large number of commanders for battlefield failures in Afghanistan in recent weeks, reflecting a new push by the top brass to hold commanders responsible for major incidents in which troops are killed or wounded, said senior military officials... Such administrative actions can scuttle chances for promotion and end a career if they are made part of an officer's permanent personnel file.
The investigations are a departure for the U.S. military, which until recently has been reluctant to second-guess commanders whose decisions might have played a role in the deaths of soldiers in enemy action. Disciplinary action has been more common in cases in which U.S. troops have injured or killed civilians..."
Yes. My father, a combat veteran of WWII in the China-Burma-India theatre of operations, often said rather sardonically that innocent people sometimes get killed in wars. But that was a different war, a total war, won by killing as many German and Japanese soldiers and civilians as possible, in order to get them to quit fighting. For The United States, World War II lasted three years and eight months - and it was over. How was that possible?
The Afghanistan front in this "unconventional" War has dragged on for eight years and four months. No end is in sight. U.S. Army Retired Major General Paul Vallely believes we should let Afghanistan go. I agree with him. It's time to re-think our entire strategy for how we're going to combat the jihad and save our civilization from Sharia.
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