When Civilian Casualties Matter More Than The Safety Of Allied Soldiers
Posted by Anthony on June 22, 2009
If you are going to fight a war with half-assed effort, you need to stop fighting.
It annoys me that the safety of civilians in Afghanistan is at ahigher priority than the safety of US and NATO soldiers. The sad thing is, this order comes from a US general: All US and NATO forces are not to shoot at the enemy hiding in civilian houses.
War should be avoided at all costs. But if you are in one, you better have your heart in it to fight. I distinctly remember one time when Allied soldiers were told not to shoot at the houses of civilians that contained the enemy. That was Operation: Market Garden, and it did not end well.
There is some hope for the troops:troops may attack insurgents hiding in Afghan houses if the U.S. or NATO forces are in imminent danger and must return fire. But why not shoot them before they shoot you first?
But if there is a compound they’re taking fire from and they can remove themselves from the area safely, without any undue danger to the forces, then that’s the option they should take, Smith said.
Just more stupidity. If you want to curb unwanted civilian casualties, lay off the drone attacks.
We will have to wait and see what happens…
LeisureGuy said
I agree with you about the drones, but not about civilian casualties. I understand that you think the lives of our troops are worth much more than the lives of the civilians, but since we’re fighting terrorists who live among the civilians, being casual about civilian deaths just increases the number of terrorists. I think the commanders on the ground there have a better sense of the situation than you (or I), and I think they are doing the right thing. Take a look at this story, for example, and at Gen. McChrystal’s guidance to the troops there.
conservative09 said
I can understand raids in civilian homes being discouraged, but the US/NATO forces can’t even shoot unless they are shot at. If this is the case, then we need to withdraw. No sense in fighting a war where you are forced to allow the enemy to shoot at you first. No sense at all.
And yeah, what is the problem with those drones? Aren’t they supposed to be highly accurate in attacks?