IMPOSSIBLE RULES IN A GUTLESS WORLD

[jimmoyer]

june 26, 2005
Troops Will Carry General's 'Common Sense' Rules on Wallet-Size Cards

By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, June 25 - American troops in Iraq are getting a new list of dos and don'ts on how to behave in the war zone from their top ground commander.

At a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, the officer, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., briefly referred to the 11 rules he had issued on wallet-size laminated cards, after Representative Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat, expressed concern that the American military might be underestimating the violent insurgency.

"Boy, that is something we watch every day," General Casey said. "To give you an example, I published 11 FAR's, call them Flat-[expletive] Rules. And one of those FAR's is to be focused on the enemy and to be opportunistic."

General Casey's command has ordered 170,000 of the cards and 1,000 2-feet-by-3-feet posters emblazoned with the rules, which advise the 139,000 troops in Iraq on topics including learning Iraqi customs and searching for creative solutions to knotty problems.

"FAR's provides basic rules for dealing with the Iraqi people," Col. Archie Davis, General Casey's spokesman, said in an e-mail message. "They are basic common-sense guidelines that should be applied to any situation."

The command began issuing the cards to troops in late May and the posters on June 10, Colonel Davis said. He said he did not know how much it cost to produce the cards and posters. Combat troops routinely carry a separate card that outlines the rules of engagement for using deadly force.

General Casey's rules offer a window into his priorities for the troops, military officials say:

¶Make security and safety your first priorities.

¶Help the Iraqis win - don't win it for them.

¶Treat the Iraqi people with dignity and respect. Learn and respect Iraqi customs and cultures.

¶Maintain strict standards and iron discipline everyday. Risk assess every mission - no complacency!!

¶Information saves lives - share it and protect it.

¶Maintain your situational awareness at all times - this can be an unforgiving environment.

¶Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you.

¶Innovate and adapt - situations here don't lend themselves to cookie-cutter solutions.

¶Focus on the enemy and be opportunistic.

¶Be patient. Don't rush to failure.

¶Take care of yourself and take care of each other.

 

[mrmom2]

So whats your take on those rules Jim :?

 

[jimmoyer]

All those rules are great individually, impossible mostly, contradictory in every way to the other rules, and about the only thing those soldiers can hope to do.

 

[moghrabi]

Re: RE: IMPOSSIBLE RULES IN A GUTLESS WORLD

All those rules are great individually, impossible mostly, contradictory in every way to the other rules, and about the only thing those soldiers can hope to do.

Rules, Rules and more Rules. Another rule for you.

 

[jimmoyer]

Moghrabi, you're passionate, you're focused, you're righteous, you're on a righteous crusade, but I wonder if there is to be a real conversation with you for it may distract you from your goal.

I've often seen the righteous dispense justice and in so doing often cause far greater sins.

 

[moghrabi]

Re: RE: IMPOSSIBLE RULES IN A GUTLESS WORLD

Moghrabi, you're passionate, you're focused, you're righteous, you're on a righteous crusade, but I wonder if there is to be a real conversation with you for it may distract you from your goal.

I've often seen the righteous dispense justice and in so doing often cause far greater sins.

I am open for discussion at any time Jim. However, I am not on a crusade, your president is.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

jim......I am curious as to what you mean by "gutless world".....and wonder what you would prefer.

thanks.


but : the only rule that has any validity is DO NOT START WARS. In this era in time , there is NO justification for wars , or for having such emphasis on a massive military program.

but it seems those troops keep getting mixed messages as to how to do things, why they are there......etc etc.

 

[jimmoyer]

At this point what makes you just like the President is the mono-focus of your crusade. You might be right and he is wrong, but your focus and your relentlessness is the same. Maybe neither of you could really have a true conversation despite professing to be open. I've seen a lack of nuance, eclectic approaches in the both of you.
Such are the ingredients of tunnel vision.

 

[moghrabi]

I did not invade a country based on lies. I did not profit from killing innocent people. I did not start 2 wars to protect my interests.
Please do not compare me to your president. That is the lowest form of humanity.

 

[mrmom2]

Hehehehehehehee The Riddler strikes again :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[moghrabi]

He could strike but he can't hit.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Re: RE: IMPOSSIBLE RULES IN A GUTLESS WORLD

At this point what makes you just like the President is the mono-focus of your crusade. You might be right and he is wrong, but your focus and your relentlessness is the same. Maybe neither of you could really have a true conversation despite professing to be open. I've seen a lack of nuance, eclectic approaches in the both of you.
Such are the ingredients of tunnel vision.

jim...... how a poster posts is not the topic you presented. Shall we address the topic. ? And "we" don't need to be patronized about it.

(if some of us sound like a broken record........it is because there is a passion about this insanity. .......and there are still some insane enough to support this kind of conduct in this era )
********

Now, how are these "rules" supposed to change things??? Seems the troops should have taken a cultural immersion course before they went over there. Will these new rules "endear" the Iraqis to the troops???

 

[moghrabi]

Re: RE: IMPOSSIBLE RULES IN A GUTLESS WORLD

Seems the troops should have taken a cultural immersion course before they went over there. Will these new rules "endear" the Iraqis to the troops???

With all due respect. The troops shouldn't have gone there in the first place.

 

[jimmoyer]

"jim......I am curious as to what you mean by "gutless world".....and wonder what you would prefer. "

--- a question by Ocean Breeze

While everyone is tunnel visioned on righteous condemnation, a kind of relentless crusade that blots out the sun shining on other objects to be noticed, I fear some other acts of evil, other acts of heroism, the pain and the horror that come from all directions are being ignored, because nothing NOTHING will distract the righteous, for to notice anything else would possibly diminish their goals.

I'm not sure that this bluntness, this hard driving will correct the American sin, or do any better than the American arrogance.

I fear we really will let Iraq down, and it won't be just the Americans, but because of the world who will bother itself to really see who these insurgents REALLY are, or bother to see how the 8.5 million Iraqis who voted see these insurgents.

These are all little things that get in the way of the worlds' anger towards American arrogance and Bush hubris.

And finally to direct answer the "gutless" question, that this world's western democracies will never have the guts to leave the comforts of home or its well-won benefits to stand up to genocide, and so little will it value the thousands of Iraqi heroes or the American soldiers who commit the kind of bravery none of us talking heads could ever possibly do.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

Re: RE: IMPOSSIBLE RULES IN A GUTLESS WORLD

Seems the troops should have taken a cultural immersion course before they went over there. Will these new rules "endear" the Iraqis to the troops???

With all due respect. The troops shouldn't have gone there in the first place.

I absolutely agree :!: ........but seeing as how they were hell bent for leather to go........they might as well been better prepared.

 

[moghrabi]

read the other thread i put up "To Bush’s Blood-Stained Hands, The Answer Must Be No".

You will then know that they had no time to prepare.

 

[jimmoyer]

Awright you guys, I'll back off, but daggone it's really difficult to talk about anything else, and I fear that's a big mistake that will only compound the original American sin attacking Iraq.

You may think there is nothing else to consider but getting that war trial on Bush. So be it. But there ARE certainly other matters to consider regarding Iraq and all this tunnel vision is ignoring it.

 

[moghrabi]

The only thing we can do for iraq is to get your criminal president and his monkeys account for their illegal actions. A trial must be set for them. Perhaps they should be hanged as they do in Texas.

 

[peapod]

Okay this is even to much for me. Its getting kind of hysterical in here. Morg, honestly toned down the outrage...I understand how you feel but you are getting carried away.

Please don't answer me...I am busy doing something...just tone it down..thanks.

 

[Ocean Breeze]

And finally to direct answer the "gutless" question, that this world's western democracies will never have the guts to leave the comforts of home or its well-won benefits to stand up to genocide, and so little will it value the thousands of Iraqi heroes or the American soldiers who commit the kind of bravery none of us talking heads could ever possibly do.

if this is intended to lay a guilt trip on many of us .....who opposed the METHOD that bush used.......it will not work.( This kind of patronizing attitude insites anger too. ) There is genocide in other areas of this planet........and this is being attended to in different ways. It is a slow process, it is an educational process too. One cannot stomp into a nation , that is foreign to ones own.....and start telling it how to run things. The variables are too many. And proper, realistic change takes time. and most productive change comes from within. If a catalyst is needed , it can be handled in a different way.

but then this invasion in Iraq was NOT about the "genocide" there .........so this is a moot point anyhow.