Where to start? Battle Birkenstocks? Sigh. The Long War will be a challenge as it is a religions war (just a reminder, only one side has to consider it to be a religious war for it to be so) - but from a military POV, it isn't that hard of a nut to crack when you make the decision to crack it. Good intel, solid targeting, and useful ROE. Doable.
Not as straightforward as the below, but doable.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not dismissing them at all. They are very good at killing, raping, torturing, and terrorizing unarmed women and children ... but let's keep perspective; we used to train for nuclear war on a global scale. We need to remember that previous generations faced worse by worse.
Within living memory, we also had few qualms about accepting civilian casualties as part of war. We need to accept that today as well.
The predawn raid Saturday came unstuck when the US troops were faced with heavier-than-expected return fire, and pulled out to avoid civilian casualties, two security sources said. No Americans were injured.
Civilian deaths? Well ... take a number.
Don't accept terrorists in your tribal area, and then it isn't a problem. Have them as neighbors, well, sorry - we have a job to do.
1 comment:
Sigh, apparently we're trying to lose this "long war" on every front.
#1 Why do we even know this stuff happened?
#2 Why, wasn't the decision to accept or not accept heavy civilian casualties made before sending the team in? If you can't accept heavy civilian casualties in an urban area, just don't go. The team should have been a select force of operators who, dressed as locals, could fit in somewhat, and once in country the ROE should have been "whatever it takes and don't leave until you have the critter or it's dead."
#3 Why do we know we have custody of the AQ leader from Lybia? He should have been extracted by a team dressed in local garb to a CIA boat or facility, had all useful information extracted, then a bullet to the head and an incinerator.
What are we doing?
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