Breaking Fox: Petraeus To Change Rules of Engagement in Afghanistan

At the moment, just that headline from commenter Guy Fawkes.

I'll keep checking for a link, though.

Review, Not Change? Drew sends this Telegraph pieces saying Petraeus intends to review the ROE's, not necessarily change them, but this is from last night and there is a chance the word is now "change."

Even if it's not -- everything in the military is "reviewed" of course. Even if he's "reviewing," I'd say that it's 99.99% likely he's changing them.

Fox Link: Mixed -- a source says he will in fact modify the ROEs, but Petraeus pushes back and says he's just reviewing them.

Answer, then: He's changing them but of course wants the formality of a "review process" first. I don't expect it will last long.

You can't have troops out there operating under ROEs they know are horrific and now know that the new general knows are horrific, too.

As John Kerry said, "Who wants to be the last man to die for a lie?" In this case, for "lie," substitute "ROEs that kill American soldiers and allow Taliban to escape."

The review process must be very brief, now that word has been leaked.

posted by Ace at 11:50 AM

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