Yet there is anger in the ranks over the perception that the rules are too tight. Petraeus has to address this.
One way is to demonstrate that even with the ROE, we are out there killing bad guys every day:
U.S. and Afghan troops seized a key Taliban figure after a four-hour gunbattle — part of a strategy that NATO officials said Thursday had eliminated more than 100 insurgent leaders in the past four months. ...
Surprise attacks against the Taliban leadership are carried out mostly by U.S. special operations troops, whose numbers in Afghanistan have tripled in the past year. Between April 1 and June 25, 110 Taliban figures, including shadow governors, commanders and their deputies and bomb makers, have been captured and 32 killed, according to Lt. Col. John Dorrian, an operations spokesman at NATO headquarters in Kabul.
He said another 500 insurgents have been killed or apprehended in the nearly daily operations — largely in the south where the Taliban are strongest.
This will tend to deflect criticisms that our ROE prevent us from killing the enemy.
And Petraeus, on offense on the issue, will look at the ROE to keep the troops happy:
General Petraeus said the issue was so important that he had consulted on the matter in the past week with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan as well as other Afghan leaders, “and they are in full agreement with me on this.” He added, “I mention this because I am keenly aware of concerns by some of our troopers on the ground about the application of our rules of engagement and the tactical directive.” ...
“If confirmed, I would continue the emphasis on reducing loss of civilian life in the course of operations to an absolute minimum, while also ensuring that we provide whatever assets are necessary to ensure the safety” of American, NATO and Afghan forces, General Petraeus said in a written answer to a question asked in advance by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
So, restrained ROE are necessary and don't stop us from killing the enemy. But the rules will be adjusted and clarified with lower level commanders to help us make sure US troops get the firepower support they need in combat. And Karzai will just shut up and stop complaining about any accidents that occur during strike missions as long as we continue to make great efforts to spare innocent civilians who are often used as human shields by our enemies.
Now if only we can get the civilian leadership in Congress and the administration to work together to win this war, we'll be just fine. Believe me, the ROE are the least of our troops' worries in this war.
