There is a renewed focus on the Battle of Wanat which happened last July. One thing is certain, it was a tragedy and 9 good men died. What is not certain is what blame the leadership of the unit bears for those deaths. Commanders are ultimately responsible for their men, especially when decisions lead to casualties. But the question really is did they make calls that were wrong, avoidable, or careless. I have heard the story of this battle directly from the mouths of more than a half dozen survivors, and have read all of the investigations and accusations that have been made. I don't believe there were any command failures and I believe the decision to sendthe platoon to Wanat was made in good faith. There was a military need to do so and leaving that to an incoming unit that would have no experience or local knowledge was the main reason for doing it. There is an expansive piece in the Washington Post and CBS News will do a feature piece on it tonight. Tomorrow I will publish the answers to the accusations made by the man who commanded the battalion. They are persuasive. The similarities to the attack recently in Nuristan are striking, and it will be tempting for many to say they represent a trend or proof we cannot prevail there. It should be noted that these outposts were scheduled to be closed as Gen. McChrystal aggregates forces in the most-populated areas. But a certain number of concerted attacks will occur until a level of rapport is built and the populace no longer tolerates a build up of enemy forces of this size.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/9ie3HdrIlTc/wanat-looking-back-and-forward.html
Posted
Oct 05 2009, 01:21 AM
by
BLACKFIVE