The Obama Administration is sending young Americans to fight with their hands tied behind their backs, and the results have been criminal. I do not think NZ soldiers should be asked to fight under the existing Rules of Engagement.

In the first seven plus years of war in Afghanistan (October 2001 – December 2008) the US lost 630 soldiers. In early 2009, the Obama administration authorized the implementation of the COIN strategy. Over the next five years, the U.S. death toll skyrocketed to 2,292. Seventy-three percent of all U.S. deaths in Afghanistan have taken place since 2009. Meanwhile Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the first seven plus years of war in Afghanistan, 2,638 U.S. soldiers were wounded in action. In the next forty-five months (2009 – 2012) an additional 15,036 suffered the same fate

COIN is an acronym for the failed Counterinsurgency strategy also known as “winning the hearts and minds of the enemy.” This and the government’s incessant tightening of already restrictive Rules of Engagement have made an otherwise primitive enemy formidable.

I have often advocated for removing these ROE’s and letting the armed forces fight as they would want under the Geneva Convention, which should be sufficient. But it seems things only continue to get worse and I wonder whether the command structure from Barack Obama down is utterly corrupt.

Below is a video on this issue I cannot recommend highly enough. This patriot said these words to the National Press Club so the applause is a bit light but it is highly apparent that absence of men like Admiral Lyons is one of the reasons so many soldiers are dying unnecessarily. It is criminal and I only hope that one day the swine Obama is held accountable for the increased deaths, but the crooks and thugs in the Whitehouse seem to be beyond reach of the law today. It will not always be so.