Friday - June 02, 2006

Rules Of Engagement

_{Mike Lester - Rome News-Tribune (GA)}

I have a problem. It’s really quite simple. The problem I’m encountering is that I don’t understand the rules of engagement in the war on terror. Let me explain ...

Let’s say you’re a Marine - Private Grunge, age 22, married with two children back home. You’re part of a patrol walking the streets of some nameless town in Iraq. Your patrol is only one of thousands the US and coalition troops conduct every single day. The heat is unbearable, dust is everywhere, you’re tired, your feet hurt and you haven’t gotten a letter from home in several days. You know the enemy is out there, hiding in the crumbling buildings all around you. He wears no uniform and he freely mingles with the innocent civilians all around you. You’re out in the open with a half dozen of the closest people in the world to you. They’re depending on you and you’re depending on them. This is your immediate family.

Suddenly, shots ring out and you recognize the sound of an AK-47. One of your buddies up front grabs his leg and collapses. Gunny yells out “Cover, everyone! Bad guys at two-o-clock!” You take cover behind a wall and return fire. All you see of the enemy are flashes from his rifle on a rooftop in front and above you. Suddenly the shooting stops and you watch a corpsman carry off your “brother” with a hole in his leg. Your squad advances on the building and someone in front kicks in the door. You rush in, rifle ready. Inside you find a dozen people screaming and throwing things at you and your squad. Someone in the crowd raises something that looks like a rifle and starts to point it at you.

You have exactly .02 seconds to make a decision. What do you do?

The simple answer is that none of you, including myself, can ever answer that question. At least, not until we are faced with that awful moment in time. Yet today I read story after story in the mainstream media about how reckless and careless and generally bloodthirsty our troops have become. We have politicians in Congress like John Murtha and John Kerry who are more than willing to publicly find the troops guilty before a trial even begins. The media covers the story from start to finish and some, like TIME magazine openly brag about their “uncovering” of the truth (no less than seven times in the same article).

Suddenly, several news organizations like the BBC start receiving tapes of other “massacres” by US troops. The incredible irony and absolute horror of this situation is that the enemy is beheading innocent civilians every week, filming it and broadcasting it to the entire world - without a single complaint from the UN. The bad guys are also blowing up car bombs in marketplaces, killing women and children on a daily basis - and the mainstream media has a brief article about it on page 14.

Meanwhile, back to Private Grunge and his squad. When the smoke clears, it is discovered that twelve people are dead and what you thought was a rifle is only a broomstick. You are ashamed - something your enemy never feels. You know you did wrong so you and your “family” decide to try to cover up the mistake that was made. There will be no film sent to Al-Jazeera and no bragging on ABC News. Is this a totally f**ked up war or what? Maybe, if you’ve studied history you suddenly realize this is why we lost the Vietnam War. Like that misbegotten effort, the politicians and media have tied the hands of the troops and created irrational rules of engagement.

Eventually, Private Grunge and his squad will be tried under the UCMJ but in the meantime, the politicians and media have already found them all guilty and sentenced them to perpetual shame and dishonor. That ain’t right. It wasn’t right in 1969 and it ain’t right now. Never fear though. The military is going to make sure every troop gets “ethics training” to make sure it never happens again.

We are going to lose the war on terror, my friends - not because of Private Grunge and his squad but because they are fighting under unreal expectations and are subject to constant criticism back home while the enemy is free to be just as barbaric and “unethical” as he wants to be. Rules of engagement? Horse puckey!  There is only one rule in force here - there absolutely has to be a cameraman present when the last helicopter takes off from the roof of the embassy in Baghdad in a few years. I wonder if it will be called “peace with honor” this time too.

Posted by The Skipper     on 06/02/2006 at 11:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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