A tweet by @Johnny_Joey made a point that had to be made. https://t.co/ezREdcI78S
— David French (@DavidAFrench) April 13, 2017
Read David French, "Trump's MOAB Drop Triggered a Tweet You Need to Read."
Here are the tweets from Johnny (Joey) Jones:
I lost my legs because my gov't was afraid to use the tools they had and saw me as expendable. I wish I'd had this admin.
— Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) April 13, 2017
We begged to use bombs on the minefield ghost town I lost my legs clearing. But by all means-continue your rhetorically righteous tweeting. https://t.co/OoyoxZzZtV
— Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) April 13, 2017
Because, I believe, more of us would've come home alive and whole if we'd used bombs to eradicate enemy safe havens-Feel free to disagree https://t.co/jnWsZKdGVO
— Johnny (Joey) Jones (@Johnny_Joey) April 13, 2017
French writes:
By the way, I quote these tweets not to spark any anger against the man Jones is addressing, Daniel Riley (who’s also a vet and amputee; he lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan), but to highlight an important and painful point about our almost 16-year-long war. Excessive American caution has cost American lives and American limbs, and it has left families and friends of the victims with deep psychological wounds. Those wounds would be grievous enough in the best circumstances, but they’re compounded by the fact that many of the decisions not to shoot, not to use artillery, or not to drop bombs were based on a combination of rules of engagement and military misjudgments that were transparently foolish at the time.
...While we don’t yet have indications that the Trump administration has changed any rules, it seems to have changed the mindset, and that could well not only make a concrete difference in conditions on the ground but also in the minds and hearts of our own troops. Soldiers tend not to respect timidity, and they generally have little patience for commanders who seem to place public or political perceptions over their lives and limbs. Watch this Trump statement carefully:
JUST IN: Trump says he's "proud" of "very successful job" the military did with the use of 'The Mother of All Bombs' https://t.co/G3qGtUdiu8 pic.twitter.com/DheqU0SsRl
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 13, 2017
He doesn’t say he authorized the use of the bomb itself. He says he authorizes the military. This is a key, wise, statement — one that hopefully empowers the military to act from a proper position of legal, moral, and political strength. Obama was notorious for not only implementing strict rules of engagement but for vacuuming an enormous amount of military decision-making authority straight to the White House. It’s hard to think of a more disempowering practice. It’s hard to think of a practice better calculated to lead to timidity in the field. Trump seems to be bringing a change, and it’s a change that’s long overdue.
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