Don't shoot 'em, they might get angry and detonate the bomb

Silly to the extreme, the British soldier is not allowed to shoot at jihadists who are in the midst of planting IEDs which will kill British soldiers.  It s not until the last sentence of the article that the real reason for commanded suicide is given, and it is a head-shaker.

If an army cannot kill those who are actively trying to kill them, there is no point in putting those uniformed lives on the line.  Without clear objectives and a strategy based in the doctrine of your enemy there will be victory only for the enemy. 


From the MailOnline July 9

Soldier killed after Army bosses barred him from opening fire on Taliban insurgents planting roadside bombs



A widow revealed how her soldier husband was blown up in Afghanistan days after senior officers had apparently ‘laughed off’ his complaints that insurgents were being allowed to plant explosive devices unchallenged.
 
Sergeant Peter Rayner, 34, phoned his wife in a ‘highly stressed’ state four days before his death and was upset that his fears were not taken seriously.
 
She said he and his men had watched the enemy, using night-vision goggles, plant improvised explosive devices and were not allowed to attack them. He was allegedly told by one officer: ‘I am an Army Captain and you will do your job.’
 
Sergeant Rayner was serving with the 2nd Battalion Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment and was leading a ten-man patrol in Helmand when he was killed in an explosion last October.
 
The father-of-one received ‘catastrophic’ head injuries.
 
Yesterday Sergeant Rayner’s widow Wendy told an inquest in Bradford that the Army had promised that her concerns would be dealt with, but she said: ‘I have been fobbed off.’
 
Mrs Rayner told Bradford Coroner's Court her husband, who joined the Army at 17, had feared his own death.
 
She said: ‘He was concerned about the number of explosive devices being planted in the area they were patrolling and had told higher ranks because he feared one of them would be killed.
 
‘He said they could see people planting these devices but could do nothing about it.
 
(.) Sergeant Rayner told his wife that officers told him that he and his men could not open fire on insurgents planting bombs or make contact with them.
 
Good idea.  Find the enemy and watch them instead of eliminating the threat.
 
(.)Outside Bradford Coroner’s Court Mrs Rayner fired a further broadside at the Ministry of Defence, calling for rules of engagement to be changed to protect soldiers.
 
‘They are not allowed to return fire unless they are fired upon. But all the lads have expressed concern because the patrol area was filled with IEDs.
 
‘They can shoot at us and take us out but the lads can’t do that to them.
 
These terrorists and Taliban can do what they want yet our soldiers try to do their job and get persecuted by the law.
 
‘If they are going to be soldiers let them be soldiers and do their jobs. The job is hard enough as it is.
 
It's "The Army of One Too Many Stupid Rules"


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