Update – Rules of Engagement
Update – many on the conservative side breathed a cautious sigh of relief when General David Petraeus was placed in charge of the NATO war effort in Afghanistan. Not many criticized his predecessor, General Stanley McChrystal, but there were grumbles about how he handcuffed his troops through tight rules of engagement as discussed in the original post.
Patraeus was seen as perhaps more of a warrior who would take the gloves off and permit our soldiers to do what soldiers do in war…kill the enemy and break things. To many Patraeus was Patton. As expected General Patraeus did modify the complex rules of engagement in Afghanistan. He actually made them even more stringent in an attempt to win the support of the Afghan people.
is one of the greatest storytellers of this genre and the new part is that Shaara pulls together a great deal of research and pulls it together into a fantastic tale. Even though you know that we win the details and drama captured me all the way through 
. Shaara, as expected, does not disappoint.
Whether you want to call it a “war on terror” as George W. Bush would or an “overseas contingency operation” as our current president prefers, we are at war. At least those who are waging battle against us are at war. I am not sure that politicians in Washington are at war or that the general public quite feels the war. This war almost came home to us again on Christmas Day with a Nigerian terrorist.