Flashback - Frustrated Military Officials Helplessly Watch Taliban in Funeral Procession from Drone
Terry Trippany on Sep 13 2006 at 10:55 am | Filed under: Feature Article, The War on Terror
Video from a drone airplane showed Afghan fighters like this one in a tightly packed formation at a funeral.
This was too much like a scene from the “Path to 9/11” where intelligence officials watched live footage of terrorists in frustration due to the inability to use the drone to target the enemy.
Taliban terror leaders who had gathered for a funeral - and were secretly being watched by an eye-in-the-sky American drone - dodged assassination because U.S. rules of engagement bar attacks in cemeteries, according to a shocking report.
U.S. intelligence officers in Afghanistan are still fuming about the recent lost opportunity for an easy kill of Taliban honchos packed in tight formation for the burial, NBC News reported.
The unmanned airplane, circling undetected high overhead, fed a continuous satellite feed of the juicy target to officers on the ground.
“We were so excited. I came rushing in with the picture,” one U.S. Army officer told NBC.
But that excitement quickly turned to gut-wrenching frustration because the rules of engagement on the ground in Afghanistan blocked the U.S. from mounting a missile or bomb strike in a cemetery, according to the report. - NY Post, TALIBAN GETS BURY LUCKY
This is the kind of news that frustrates conservatives back at home. We are sick and tired of watching the politically correct prosecution of the War on Terror. Either fight the war to win or don’t bother. This is a shame.
In many respects the situation is exactly the same as it was in the last administration. Officials who should be making decisions are afraid to pull the trigger out of fear that they would be hung out to dry once the libs start harping about it. If ever there was a plan on how to lose a war this is it.
Agonizingly, Army officers could do nothing but watch the pictures being fed back from the drone as the Taliban splintered into tiny groups - too small to effectively target with the drone - and headed back to their mountainside hideouts.
You will also note that this is another in a line of endless leaks that are emanating from within the government. Bad on all sides. The military is investigating.
Others:
Michelle Malkin: What the….?!!!!!
Wizbang: ‘Political Correctness Runs Amok’
Confederate Yankee: A Failure of Initiative
drone, Afghan, Taliban, U.S. Army, War on Terror
So, Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, Commanding General of Central Command, who is in charge of the Middle East, has established rules of engagement which prevented the U.S. Army from the easy July air attack on approximately 200 Taliban soldiers drawn up in ranks at a funeral in a cemetery in Afghanistan. Well let us reflect for a moment. The General is an American of Lebanese background who speaks Arabic and would seem perfect for the job. In line with the old tradition that if you fight America, we can appoint American Generals who speak your language, understand your culture, and will crush you! In John Abizaid’s case, this has not, to say the least, happened!
Consider for a moment, the same situation with General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower, an American of German extraction. In 1942, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard “The Beast” Heydrich, head of the Sicherheitsdienst and acting “Protector” of Czechoslovakia, was assassinated by allied agents and, after the usual Nazi atrocities, the Germans subsequently held an elaborate funeral for the Obergrupppenfuhrer. Did General Eisenhower, out of concern for German sensibilities, order the great U.S. Army Air Corp not to attack German military funerals? Do pigs fly?
It is time for John Abizaid to be assigned to a command within his level of ability. Enough is enough! John Abizaid has clearly been promoted well beyond his level of competency. Not too shocking, as it has happened many times before, and will again. Gen. Abizaid may feel that things were simpler and more basic in the days of WW II. No General, I was there, and they were not!
Pat West
Toronto
Very nicely stated. It is sad that American’s have been cheated about learning the lessons of history. Today’s educators seem more concerned with political correctness and ideological agendas than actually discussing the context behind the strategies of past wars.
It is important to listen to the stories as told by those who lived among America’s greatest generation. They have an in depth understanding of patriotism and the kind of resolve it took to defeat evil that was threatening the whole world.
Thank you for your comments.