Why We Are Losing In Iraq
From the website The Captain's Journal, a non-military website that posts frequently on military affairs and whose author has many NCO contacts in theatre in Iraq:
Rules of Engagement: The U.S. soldier and Marine shall fight by rules easily manipulated by jihadi forces
It goes on:
Rules of Engagement: The US soldier and Marine must be badly outnumbered and must patrol in the open, presenting an easy target, while the enemy can control the terms of the engagement through unilateral acts that act to "stand down" US forces adhering to artibtrary political rules.
It gets worse. From an NCO who served a year in Ramadi, on the ever-present danger of suicide bombers in cars/trucks:
It is frankly immoral and criminal to ask American military personnel to conduct a war in such an environment.
In war, the side that can control when and where operations will occur has an enormous advantage. It is clear as day that these "rules" are easily manipulated.
You don't need to be a genius to figure it out. Base yourself in a Mosque, after getting some local "cleric" to declare it the 76th Most Holy Site in All of Islam. Spead your fighters out. Have them constantly walking in clothing that could conceal weapons. Have some of them armed, some of them not. Direct these men so there is constant inter-action between them and the US forces. Some walk into their path, get challenged, only found to be found unarmed. Some walk nearby, then turn around abruptly.
Every hour of every day, you are forcing US soldiers to make split-second decisions. They will feel the pressure, knowing that every day they face death and, if they make the wrong decision, that their own press will "Abu Ghraib" them and their own leadership will ship them to Leavenworth.
Meanwhile, run cars near convoys using the same concept. Some with lone men, others with families. Some come near, then leave. Others turn away quickly when spotted. Cause confusion and uncertainty in the crusader/infidel ranks.
Then, after a few weeks prep, after they get tired of all the near misses, you hit them. They will hesitate and you will get them. And the next day, your patient work of two weeks pays off as the AP headline hits America:
5 GIs Killed in Anbar Province.
The military has also tightened rules of engagement as the war has progressed, toughening the requirements before a sniper may shoot an Iraqi. Potential targets must be engaged in a hostile act, or show clear hostile intent.
The marines say insurgents know the rules, and now rarely carry weapons in the open. Instead, they pose as civilians and keep their weapons concealed in cars or buildings until just before they need them. Later, when they are done shooting, they put them swiftly out of sight and mingle with civilians.
Rules of Engagement: The U.S. soldier and Marine shall fight by rules easily manipulated by jihadi forces
It goes on:
From Observation Post Blazer, marines view Fallujah through a thick sheet of bullet-proof glass--already tested with numerous impacts. Or they stare through night-vision goggles or a thermal imaging scope that can pick up the heat of a dog hundreds of yards away.
The marines still patrol key roads. The US military, which still travels boldly through town despite a surge in deadly sniper attacks and roadside bombs, is spending $200 million on 60-plus projects to rebuild the city, heavily damaged in fighting two years ago.
But with just 300 marines, the US military footprint is smaller in this Sunni stronghold of more than 300,000 than it has been in two years. As the marine presence shrinks and Iraqis take more control, Fallujah--once a template for counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq, where US forces have controlled all the variables--is likely again to set a standard for the rest of the country.
"A lot of us feel like we have our hands tied behind our back," says Cpl. Peter Mattice, of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment. "In Fallujah, [insurgents] know our [rules of engagement]--they know when to stop, just before we engage."
Rules of Engagement: The US soldier and Marine must be badly outnumbered and must patrol in the open, presenting an easy target, while the enemy can control the terms of the engagement through unilateral acts that act to "stand down" US forces adhering to artibtrary political rules.
It gets worse. From an NCO who served a year in Ramadi, on the ever-present danger of suicide bombers in cars/trucks:
My unit, as well as the thousands of other soldiers in our area dealt with these problems on a daily basis. The "details" of the ROE changed daily. Some examples… For a time, the gunners would bring buckets full of rocks into the turret with them to throw through the windshields of vehicles not adhering to our warnings to stay away (that ended quickly after command had to pay for numerous windshields). We put signs in Arabic/Kurdish/Turkish on the backs of the vehicles warning them to stay away. We fired warning shots. We did nothing. We drove in the center of the road and dominated our routes by running ignorant drivers right off the road. We drove with the flow of traffic and narrowly averted disaster numerous times.
It is frankly immoral and criminal to ask American military personnel to conduct a war in such an environment.
In war, the side that can control when and where operations will occur has an enormous advantage. It is clear as day that these "rules" are easily manipulated.
You don't need to be a genius to figure it out. Base yourself in a Mosque, after getting some local "cleric" to declare it the 76th Most Holy Site in All of Islam. Spead your fighters out. Have them constantly walking in clothing that could conceal weapons. Have some of them armed, some of them not. Direct these men so there is constant inter-action between them and the US forces. Some walk into their path, get challenged, only found to be found unarmed. Some walk nearby, then turn around abruptly.
Every hour of every day, you are forcing US soldiers to make split-second decisions. They will feel the pressure, knowing that every day they face death and, if they make the wrong decision, that their own press will "Abu Ghraib" them and their own leadership will ship them to Leavenworth.
Meanwhile, run cars near convoys using the same concept. Some with lone men, others with families. Some come near, then leave. Others turn away quickly when spotted. Cause confusion and uncertainty in the crusader/infidel ranks.
Then, after a few weeks prep, after they get tired of all the near misses, you hit them. They will hesitate and you will get them. And the next day, your patient work of two weeks pays off as the AP headline hits America:
5 GIs Killed in Anbar Province.
