Liberal lawyers do not want to lose their jobs and clout to Hero Sergent Joe who killed Bin Laden. Fine with me, ultimately the war is within our territory, so now the idiots at home won't be immune from bashing the brave soldiers abroad.

To all FReepers:

Please take on my responsibility the fact that John Ringo is a good man and deserves your respect. Thank you.

This General needs to be fired ASAP!!

As the perfect Marines would say,

"Sir! Yes, Sir!"

Great post. I read in an earlier article that (I guess after the fact) the decision to actually fire on the Mullah was approved by President Bush. The only problem is that it probably took several hours cycle time from the initial spotting to the actual hit. Commanders on scene need this ongoing authority.

Kill 'em if you got 'em.

this is how we lost the Vietnam war - getting approval to fire was a political decision. it was often denied, and when it was approved, it took hours and hours, and your target was in another place, requiring a new request, and so on, until the target was gone.

As Allied troops swept through Germany, Winston Churchill was asked in the House of Commons by an MP what a British Tommy should do if he found Herr Hitler. he replied " I would leave the decision about what to do the the good sense of the British soldier" They say here in the UK that 99% of lawyers give all the others a bad reputation.

Lawyers or no lawyers - whoever missed the opportunity should not be in the position they're in.

Even Clinton said the Ford assassination exec order doesn't apply to terrorists...only heads of State.

Even Clinton said the Ford assassination exec order doesn't apply to terrorists...only heads of State.

And here is where the rub is..Omar is considered as a head of state. Gen Franks was probably confused as to what action to take, being carefull not to put himself and GWB in a position to be hounded by an International Court.

As well, it seems our laws still prohibit asassination, so the General probably did what was polically correct, not what was militarily correct. Our military need some concise guidance in this area if we are to prevail.

Omar is considered as a head of state

We can use their argument. Where's the proof? He's not in my almanac.

I remember reading a story some years back that the British had an opportunity to assassinate Hitler before hostilities started and rejected the idea. It would have saved the world fifty million lives if they had killed him.

The whole problem with this is the failure of the relevant commander to have thought through this issue of shoot or not to shoot before they came upon Omar.

To call in the JAG for a split second decision on whether to shoot a so called head of state or government in the middle of an evolving operation is nuts. Piss poor planning makes for poor performance.

The Taliban isnt considered the legitimate govt of Afghanastan. So killing Omar is not assasination but more like a surgical, decisive kill.

One of the issues missed here is this: How about establishing the rules of engagement BEFORE going in? That way people don't have to sit around with their thumb up their butt waiting for approval.

The problem is one of communication and human nature.

Communication links now enable HQ brass to observe and control what’s going on at the FEBA (forward edge of the battle area). If they can do it, they will do it.

It’s human nature to control things if you can.

The more able the brass is able to observe and control the individual soldier on the front line, the more they will. Individual initiative will be lost.

The result is this massive F… U…

Thank you for your comments and posts - from a Yank to a Brit - God bless you and your country for standing with America at this time.

The president of Pakistan tells us that if we take out Mullah Omar, the war will end in a day.

  This is almost certainly a lie. If the Prez of Pakistan said this, he was lying. Omar is less powerful than Bin Laden and is kept in power because he has allied himself to Bin Laden. Interviews with Taliban or Al-Qaeda defectors emphasize that instead of Omar being able to deliver Bin Laden to us, even under the coercion of saturation bombing, Bin Laden could easily make us a gift of Omar trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey.