Posted on 01/24/2012 2:38:39 PM PST by mandaladon
Joshua Waddell, a first lieutenant in the U.S. Marines, appeared on his way to a stellar career as an American military officer. The son of a retired Navy SEAL commander, Waddell had won a Bronze Star during his first tour of duty in Afghanistan and had returned for a second.
Then he made a decision in combat that military experts say has severely jeopardized his future in the corps.
But some military experts say the black mark on Waddell's record was undeserved, that he and other young American officers are being put in a difficult, if not impossible, situation by unreasonable rules of engagement foisted upon the military by politically sensitive commanders in the Pentagon.
The facts in Waddell's case are spelled out in Marine Corps documents. But how those facts should be interpreted is a matter of heated dispute.
On Nov. 1, Waddell, a 25-year-old executive officer with 3rd Battallion, 7th Marine Corps Regiment, was monitoring a surveillance camera in Sangin, Afghanistan, when he spotted a man who had been identified as a bomb maker working with area insurgents. Two days earlier, a sergeant from India Company had lost both legs and a hand when a bomb detonated in their area of operation. The man spotted on the camera was believed to be responsible. After receiving permission from his battalion commanders, Waddell ordered Marine snipers to open fire on the man, and he was hit. A group of Afghans rushed to the man, put him on a tractor and attempted to flee. Waddell ordered the snipers to hit the engine block of the tractor, disabling it so the man believed to be a bomb maker would not escape. The tractor was hit but no civilians were injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
“Obama is destroying our military”
No question about it, that’s his intent.
He failed to read an enemy soldier his Miranda rights before shooting him.
“noncombatant local nationals”
Says who????!!
These “teens” were aiding in the escape of a known bomb maker!!!!
I enlisted at 17 and was never considered a “teen” nor a “noncombatant”!!!
These idiots are imposing made up rules that don’t withstand the common sense test!
The officer should immediately claim he is a homosexual and that the man shot had made “hateful” antigay remarks.
This makes me sick. A known bomb maker is fleeing and they shoot out the engine block of a tractor, and now this guy is hamstrung for it.
I lay this directly at the feet of our state department. They make these promises that the pentagon has to keep, and the high command will be removed if they don’t follow through. They will always cover their own asses back home and leave the troops in the field hanging in the wind.
OMG They damaged their vehicle!!! HOLY COW, a bunch of cold-blooded vehicle damagers!!
Time to poop and allow them to take the gloves off (not very likely) or get off the pot, i.e., get the hell out.
Yep, and lessee... who is running State?
People who think Obama is actually the one who does anything are fools.
Written by an Army officer about twenty years ago and well received by the Pentagon brass, et al. -- as I recall it's about a war with Iran.. in 2012 -- written as the Clintonoids were assuming power with plans to dismantle the military into global-meals-on-wheels service and a "social experiment" lab -- the Clinton pukes tried to destroy our miiitary and now that Bush helped the military to recover, now it's Obama's controversial rules of engagement that threaten members of our military.
This is pure horse hockey. This crap is coming down the chain from above Folsom, and Wadell is the designated fall guy. That bomb maker was important to the Afghans and they're ticked. No noncombatant local nationals were injured and the vehicle was stopped from assisting a known bomb maker.
A disgrace.
I was Pissed a decade ago when the word of enemy meant charges against our troops in Iraq. I was pissed when a pilot was castrated, butchered and drug through city streets in Somalia and no immediate military response. I was pissed when a navy ship was bombed, sailors died, and no military response was given. Yemen didn't know who did it and where the attackers were? Yea right. Where did they put them when they caught them? In a cell with an escape tunnel.
It's not just this POTUS it's been every POTUS since Poppy and their Secretaries of Defense who put their Lyndon Johnson type PC ROE's before the good of the troops. Marines, Soldiers, Airmen, and sailors go too war too kill the enemy. Who is the enemy? Potentially every one they see in the country they are deployed too not in a U.S. Military Uniform. Don't want that? Then don't send them too combat.
Untie their hands and let them do their job. Their job is too kill. It is not too police, build, nurse foreign nationals, etc. We need too get a Pro- Military POTUS and a Pro-Military Sec of Defense that understands Non PC ROE war who will stand up to congress and do some wholesale clean-out of the PC in the Pentagon both in the civilian portion and military portion.
No service member when he spots potential enemy should have to ask Mother May I. None should be second guessed in combat and eyes on the ground should make the call. The only killings that warrant any investigation is friendly fire and how too prevent it.
Don't like the sound of that? Don't ask a member of the armed forces too go into combat then.
This has been going on since 1951 when Harry Truman adopted a ‘limited war’ policy and forced the retirement of MacArthur during the Korean War. Ever since that time our soldiers have had to deal with increasingly insane ROEs as time has progressed.
I’d like to see the name “Department of Defense” changed back to “Department of War” because you can never win a war playing defense only.
By the time the Korean War began Marxist were well embedded in our education system and government. It took them just two decades after arriving from Germany to do this.
You are very correct on when PC Rules of Engagement started. Each war they became more insane. MacArthur, Patton, and others were Old School war horses who knew how to lay battle plans and fight too win.
The only plus I can give Truman was allowing the dropping of The Bombs on Japan which likely saved untold U.S. servicemens lives.
Very true and I agree. Our military should be 100% ready for war at any given point in time. I would also like too see the U.S. State Department closed or at least prohibited with micromanaging the operations of our troops. The also should stop enabling terrorist thugs as they have now for decades. Staying out of Israels business a few years might clear up some M.E. issues for us as well. Worked for Reagan.
And that is the only decent decision he made during his time as Prez.
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