Congress to scrutinize rules of engagement - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Congress to scrutinize rules of engagement

The House Armed Services Committee will soon examine the rules of engagement used by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Military Times has learned.

The classified, full-committee briefing will cover tactical directives that limit how and when NATO troops in Afghanistan can use force, according to a letter sent by Rep. Ike Skelton, D.-Mo., chairman of the committee, to three House members who worried the ROE currently in place may restrict troops from defending themselves.

The briefing has not yet been scheduled, but staff is “working on locking down a date,” committee spokeswoman Jennifer Kohl said Wednesday.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., first called for hearings last spring, saying active-duty Marines in his district, which includes Camp Lejeune, and the families of troops killed in combat contact him regularly about the issue. Since then, he has been joined by at least two other congressmen, Reps. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., and Jeff Miller, R.-Fla.

Skelton said in his Aug. 26 letter to the three congressmen that he shared their “deep interest in ensuring that the members of the Armed Forces serve in conditions which allow them to act in self defense and provide sufficient force protection.”

“Due to the sensitive and often classified nature of tactical directives, it is my intention to hold a classified full committee briefing on this issue when Congress returns from the August recess,” Skelton wrote.

The rules of engagement have been under a steady barrage of fire since July 2009, when Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, then commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, issued guidelines directing “leaders at all levels to scrutinize and limit the use of force such as close-air support against residential compounds and other locations likely to produce civilian casualties.” He also restricted the use of air-to-ground munitions and indirect fire, such as artillery rounds, against residences.

The concerns stretch beyond that, however. Marines in Afghanistan have complained that insurgents regularly hide their weapons in fields and ditches, making it easy to blend in with civilians after a firefight.

Critics of McChrystal’s directives had hoped that the rules of engagement would be altered this summer, after he resigned in June under pressure following incendiary comments from his staff appeared in the media. But McChrystal’s replacement, Army Gen. David Petraeus, issued a tactical directive update last month that appeared to reinforce many of the previous rules.

Declassified portions released by military officials in Afghanistan stress the need to not kill Afghan civilians while hunting for the Taliban.

“We must continue — indeed, redouble — our efforts to reduce the loss of innocent life to an absolute minimum,” the Petraeus directive said. “Every Afghan civilian death diminishes our cause. If we use excess force or operate contrary to our counterinsurgency principles, tactical victories may prove to be strategic setbacks.”

DISCUSS: CONGRESS LOOKING OVER RULES OF ENGAGEMENT