Thursday, January 11, 2007

Troop Restrictions

"And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have."

President Bush said these words early on in his speech last evening and quite frankly I was surprised that none of the pundits picked up on them.

Most people might infer that this refers to the Iraqi imposed restrictions on our troops from setting up checkpoints and restrictions on which cities/areas they can enter to ferret out the enemy.

I am hopeful it means more than that. As I have said all along, more troops on the ground will only be minimally helpful if the "rules of engagement" are not eased. I certainly hope the president will finally allow our troops to fight like they know how to fight, to engage preemptively when threatened and send a clear message "we intend to kill you before you kill us".

{We were without internet access for far too long - our DSL went down, but finally got back on last evening}

3 comments:

Unknown said...

- welcome back!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi J,
They definitely need to let the troops do their jobs and the ACLU and their ilk need to be banned! How can a soldier do his job if he's worried about a law suit if he fires his weapon.

Sorry, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the point is, I agree with you!

YIH said...

This is one thing that has ticked me off to no end.
I've literally shouted at the screen ''WHOSE TROOPS ARE THEY!!!'' in regards to the al-malaki (al-sadr) government vetoing what is done with US forces.
The aclu can't allow al-malaki/al-sadr to do this nor can CNN. Even nancy pelousy made it plain that while congress can decide to fund (or not) ''the troops'' there is only one person who can decide WHAT to do with them. That would be The Commander In Chief. It was that person and that person alone WHO PUT the restrictions on ''the troops'' and that person is the only one who can take the restrictions off them.
And I'm unconvinced that he either has or will do so.
The Commander In Chief CAN convince me he is now serious. And the sooner al-sadr has a noose around his neck the sooner I'll be convinced...