American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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The ROEs got so convoluted and fucked-up because politicians
were interfering in the process. The rules are drawn up by lawyers who
are trying to protect the admirals and generals from the politicians;
they’re not written by people who are worried about the guys on the
ground getting shot.
For some reason, a lot of people back home—not all people—didn’t
accept that we were at war. They didn’t accept that war means death,
violent death most times. A lot of people, not just politicians, wanted
to impose ridiculous fantasies on us, hold us to some standard of behavior
that no human being could maintain.
I’m not saying war crimes should be committed. I am saying that
warriors need to be let loose to fight war without their hands tied behind
their backs.
According to the ROEs I followed in Iraq, if someone came into
my house, shot my wife, my kids, and then threw his gun down, I was
supposed to NOT shoot him. I was supposed to take him gently into
custody.
Would you
You can argue that my success proves the ROEs worked. But I feel
that I could have been more effective, probably protected more people
and helped bring the war to a quicker conclusion without them.
It seemed the only news stories we read were about atrocities or how
impossible it was going to be to pacify Ramadi.
Guess what We killed all those bad guys, and what happened
The Iraqi tribal leaders finally realized we meant business, and they finally
banded together not just to govern themselves, but to kick the