Article

2009-08-13 Afghanistan

Marines call for British CAS, Brits refuse to fire, Different ROE - Bomber Harris where are you?

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2009-08-13 10:42|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top
File under: Taliban

#1 Misleading headline, bordering on a blatant lie. US/NATO commander set the ROE. Even the marines weren't attacking so as to not kill civilians.

Posted by AllahHateMe 2009-08-13 12:07|| 2009-08-13 12:07|| Front Page Top

#2 So the bodycount shifts from afgan civilians to Sons of America.

Posted by Skidmark 2009-08-13 12:46|| 2009-08-13 12:46|| Front Page Top

#3 It's way past time to constitute the Kafiristan Liberation Army. It's been about a century since the conquest, we're in the neighborhood, and we'd only be recalling and relying on the most local of skills and instincts.

If it grows from there, so much the better.

Posted by Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2009-08-13 13:05|| 2009-08-13 13:05|| Front Page Top

#4 We have a jet?

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2009-08-13 15:06|| 2009-08-13 15:06|| Front Page Top

#5 Why do we refer to these women and children as "civilians"? If they consort with enemy fighters in a combat zone I think they qualify as voluntary combatants under Geneva Convention rules. I would think of them as "targets".

Posted by Scooter McGruder 2009-08-13 15:41|| 2009-08-13 15:41|| Front Page Top

#6 They're camp-followers, Scooter. A civilized army doesn't ordinarily attack camp-followers, though it won't hold back if the camp-followers are putting themselves in the way.

Posted by Steve White 2009-08-13 15:49|| 2009-08-13 15:49|| Front Page Top

#7 Chillax till it's Total War.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2009-08-13 16:10|| 2009-08-13 16:10|| Front Page Top

#8 A civilized army doesn't ordinarily attack camp-followers

Unless they're French and it's Agincourt.

Or they're Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, Talibunnies ,LeT, etc.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2009-08-13 16:47|| 2009-08-13 16:47|| Front Page Top

#9 #8 A civilized army doesn't ordinarily attack camp-followers

Unless they're French and it's Agincourt.

......or Boer women and children taken from their farms in the veldt to British concentration camps and starved in the 1901-1902 timeframe.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-08-13 17:26|| 2009-08-13 17:26|| Front Page Top

#10 Where's the picture from?

Posted by DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 2009-08-13 17:27|| 2009-08-13 17:27|| Front Page Top

#11 The Marines themselves didn't attack militants shooting at them Wednesday because women and children were in the compound, an approach meant to avoid civilian casualties at all costs.

Won't take the Talibunnies long to figure that one out. They will make certain women and children are around most of the time. It would seem that these ROEs would get people killed--our guys.

Posted by JohnQC 2009-08-13 17:52|| 2009-08-13 17:52|| Front Page Top

#12 I hope these donks aren't trying to work for a defeat out of this.

Posted by JohnQC 2009-08-13 17:54|| 2009-08-13 17:54|| Front Page Top

#13 they should have used a MANPAD to shoot down the Brit Harrier and blamed in on the "unarmed civilians". WTF are we using Brits for CAS anyhow? They've been a poor ally for some time now.

Posted by dzzrtrock 2009-08-13 18:09|| 2009-08-13 18:09|| Front Page Top

#14 They are, JohnQC. >:-(

The only ROE we should have is "You f*ck with our military, you and everyone around you dies. Fast."

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2009-08-13 18:11|| 2009-08-13 18:11|| Front Page Top

#15 We have a jet?

I thought it was leased from the Russians.

Posted by Pappy 2009-08-13 21:03|| 2009-08-13 21:03|| Front Page Top

#16 If they consort with enemy fighters in a combat zone I think they qualify as voluntary combatants under Geneva Convention rules. I would think of them as "targets".

There's a good chance at least some of those women were forcibly married to Talibunnies with the kids as a result.

Posted by lotp 2009-08-13 21:09|| 2009-08-13 21:09|| Front Page Top

#17 AllahHateMe

Each country in the more than 40-nation NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan has its own rules of engagement that apply to specific battle situations, but McChrystal's order to protect civilians applies to all forces in the country.

The Marines locked in on a Taliban position Wednesday in a cave in a nearby mountain, from which militants were firing heavy weapons. The troops called for an airstrike against the position, but the British Harrier jet that responded refused to fire its missiles because British rules of engagement require the pilot himself to identify the target, not just troops on the ground.

Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2009-08-13 22:19|| 2009-08-13 22:19|| Front Page Top

#18 Again, Disproportionate Retaliation is the only thing that has ever worked against Muslim insurgent terrorists. Indulge the quranimal, and he will take license. When war is unthinkable to the enemy, they won't wage it. As it is, they are indoctrinated in Pakistan - often in US subsidized UN refugee camps - to fight to the death in Afghanistan. That is a juggernaut that cannot be stopped until they are killed in masses. It is time to deploy Napalm.

Posted by Unitle Borgia4836 2009-08-13 22:42|| 2009-08-13 22:42|| Front Page Top

#19 The Marines locked in on a Taliban position Wednesday in a cave in a nearby mountain, from which militants were firing heavy weapons.

When was the last time American Marines (or any Western troops) got to besiege an enemy? I suspect the Taliban are not going to like the result of this particular choice.

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2009-08-13 22:44|| 2009-08-13 22:44|| Front Page Top

#20 TW, that is assuming that they are allowed to besiege the Taliban. Since there are "civilians" in the area, I thought the ROEs specified that the Marines must disengage and retreat.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia">Rambler in Virginia 2009-08-13 22:47|| 2009-08-13 22:47|| Front Page Top

23:48 Pappy
23:46 49 pan
23:44 trailing wife
23:43 Mike N.
23:36 3dc
23:28 Barbara Skolaut
23:06 trailing wife
23:02 CrazyFool
22:58 trailing wife
22:53 Rambler in Virginia
22:51 Unitle Borgia4836
22:51 trailing wife
22:47 Rambler in Virginia
22:46 Unitle Borgia4836
22:45 trailing wife
22:44 trailing wife
22:42 Unitle Borgia4836
22:31 Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division
22:19 GolfBravoUSMC
22:15 Skidmark
22:03 Barbara Skolaut
21:59 Barbara Skolaut
21:58 rhodesiafever
21:54 whatadeal