Originally posted by Fatum:
clients ? ... what clients ? ... this is convoy protection we're talking about here, not protecting some VIP bro ... you're right, if it was rumsfeld or cheney (which most unfortunately for US and the world, it wasn't) you're farked, you've failed your mission, if it's convoy protection, then you get as much men (and material) out of the killzone as possible, reorg, then come back, you don't sit there waiting for RPGs to hit and for them to annihilate you ....
though you've inadvertently brought up the real crux of the issue here, the real culprits of this tragic incident, were not the soldiers doing what they were trained and taught to do, but the REMFs and politicos who hired CIVILIAN contractors to ferry MILITARY supplies ! (pork barrel politics of course, campaign contributions, contracts ... whatever) ... they've taken outsourcing to a new artform there, reconstruction professionals are guarded by civillian blackwater chaps, construction and logistics handled by private contractors instead of the military. Haliburton the company is no angel, nor is KBR, (hint, they are based in TEXAS, and is the largest construction and logistic contractor for the US military)
The mission is to protect, PROTECT.
As I said, IMo, the drills they executed were wholly inappropriate for the mission at hand. For that, unless the soldiers were taught differently, the US army ought to be blamed.
You try to protray me as being an irrational inquisitor. Don't.
