It's time to revisit rules of engagement

There has been much emphasis on how many troops President Obama will send to Afghanistan in the coming weeks. To me the issue is not how many will be sent but how our troops will be allowed to fight.

There are approximately 68,000 U.S. Troops in Afghanistan. All troops arriving before late June 2009 were under one level of Rules of Engagement that allowed them to return fire at will when engaged or chase insurgents into buildings of all types. However, by early July 2009, these troops and others that have arrived have been under new Relaxed Rules of Engagement that could be responsible for the sudden increase in casualties. These need to be reviewed before President Obama sends one more person into harm's way.

These limited Rules of Engagement are equivalent to giving our troops rubber bullets. They are the equivalent to standing in an open field being fired upon yet not being able to fire back.

These limited Rules of Engagement are change we cannot believe in.

General McChrystal was in charge of black ops for many years and he knows how to follow orders and how to get things done. He knows how to corner the enemy and how to eliminate the enemy, but he cannot do it with limited techniques, limited supplies, limited strategy or limited military support. However, in this case General McChrystal needs political support also. He needs our commander in chief to remove these relaxed rules and let our troops do the job they are being sent to do.

With 68,000 troops in harm's way already, and with the thousands who have already deployed more than once (some as many as eight tours), we need to assure our troops that they have our president's full support and not allow the enemy to maintain an upper hand.

Augustin Blancas Jr.

Mount Prospect