BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 4 months ago
Jim Hoft:
Protesters are chucking bricks from an Interstate 270 overpass. Police have shut down the interstate in north St. Louis County.
Police are moving people out of Ferguson
We’ve seen this before in Iraq.
More than one third of all Soldiers and Marines continue to report being in threatening situations where they were unable to respond due to Rules of Engagement (ROE). In interviews, Soldiers reported that Iraqis would throw gasoline-filled bottles (i.e., Molotov Cocktails) at their vehicles, yet they were prohibited from responding with force for nearly a month until the ROE were changed. Soldiers also reported they are still not allowed to respond with force when Iraqis drop large chunks of concrete blocks from second story buildings or overpasses on them when they drive by. Every groups of Soldiers and Marines interviewed reported that they felt the existing ROE tied their hands, preventing them from doing what needed to be done to win the war …
This was eventually changed and our men were allowed to fire on insurgents throwing blocks from bridges and overhead passes due to the danger. I am just wondering – to what degree would we allow that for ordinary American citizens who are under threat from blocks thrown from overhead passes? Would we tie their hands more than we tied the hands of our Soldiers and Marines in Iraq? If so, why?
