Fw: Screwed Again

["Don Greenlaw" <dgreenlaw@cox.net>]

Forarded.

Semper fi,
Don Greenlaw
----- Original Message ----- 
From: sandy damitz
To: dgreenlaw@cox.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 10:56 AM
Subject: RE: Screwed Again




Marine's career threatened by controversial rules of engagement
By:Sara A. Carter | 01/23/12 8:05 PM
National security correspondent | Follow on Twitter @SaraCarterDC

Marine Corps 1st Lt. Joshua Waddell, 25, in Sangin, Afghanistan, is 
executive officer with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Corps Regiment, from 
Twentynine Palms, Calif. (Courtesy photo)
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.
Then, about three weeks later, the civilians who helped remove the wounded 
man from the area were found to be teenagers.
As a result, Waddell was demoted from executive officer, and the battalion 
commander, Lt. Col. Seth Folsom, determined he had violated rules of 
engagement that governed when Marines could fire, and at whom. Folsom said 
Wadell "is not recommended for promotion" and "in violation of [combat 
rules] during an engagement." The report stated that "noncombatant local 
nationals" were in the area of direct fire and that "the engagement resulted 
in a damaged local national vehicle."
A Marine brigadier general who reviewed the case was sympathetic to Waddell, 
whom he described as a "superb and heroic combat leader. But the general 
said the decision on whether Waddell should be promoted was "the commander's 
prerogative," noting that the battalion commander on the scene had lost 
"confidence in [Waddell's] abilities."
Marine Maj. Shawn Haney, spokesman for Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve 
Affairs, said Waddell's fitness report will go before a review board at the 
time of any promotion "and everything is under scrutiny, so Waddell will 
have a chance to defend himself against the accusations." Still, Haney 
conceded, Waddell's fitness reports play a "significant role in future 
promotions."
The upshot is that Waddell's career has been effectively blunted, his chance 
for promotion blocked.
Waddell is just one of hundreds of cases of troops who have suffered under 
stringent rules of engagement, said Jeff Addicott, a former senior legal 
adviser to U.S. Army Special Forces.
"We have hamstrung our military with unrealistic ROEs that do more harm to 
our soldiers than the enemy, and now a Marine's career is on the line 
because he disabled a tractor," Addicott said. "In many ways our military is 
frozen in fear of violating absurd self-imposed rules on the battlefield, 
How can you tell if it's a teenager or a man, a farmer or an enemy when 
you're fighting an insurgency?"
A Marine stationed in Afghanistan who does not know Waddell, but who has 
operated under the same rules, said, "The rules of engagement are meant to 
placate [President Hamid] Karzai's government at our expense. They say it's 
about winning the hearts and minds, but it's not working. We're not putting 
fear into the enemy, only our troops."
Waddell's father, Mark Waddell, who served more than 25 years in the 
military and retired as a commander of a Navy SEAL team, said his son and 
other Americans fighting in Afghanistan are being victimized by these rules.
"I feel what's happened to my son is a complete betrayal, and he isn't the 
only one," said Waddell, of Fort Worth, Texas. "Josh is a hero. We expect 
them to go out and make instantaneous combat decisions, then we 
Monday-morning quarterback their decisions. It's an outrage."



Read more at the Washington Examiner: 
http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/2012/01/marines-career-threatened-controversial-rules-engagement/2127401#ixzz1kP2mIbZV