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thedrifter
10-10-09, 08:47 AM
Civilians Safer, Are Marines Worse Off?
60 Minutes: Officer Describes The Restraint He Imposes On His Increasingly Frustrated Troops

(CBS) Thanks to new orders to be especially wary of killing civilians, U.S. Marine Company G hadn't harmed a single one over a three-month period, despite many pitched battles it fought in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

But "Golf Company," of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, lost seven of its own soldiers over the same period, an unusually high number. Scott Pelley and his crew spent three weeks with the Marine unit deployed as part of President Obama's troop build-up for a report to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Christian Cabaniss describes the new mission of restraint. "Killing a thousand Taliban is great but if I kill two civilians in the process, it's a loss," he tells Pelley. "I told the Marines before we deployed it's about a three-second decision, especially with his personal weapon. The first second is 'Can I.' The next two are: 'Should I? What is going to be the effect of my action? Will it move the Afghan closer to the government or further away?'" asks Cabaniss. "Decisive is winning the consent of the people. Winning is really the government of Afghanistan filling the vacuum with delivery of governance," the Lieutenant Colonel says.

In the war in Afghanistan, the civilians and the enemy often mix too closely to tell them apart. Says 2nd Lt. Dan O'Hara, "For the most part, you don"t know [enemy from civilian] until they start shooting at you and…before you get the chance to close in on them, they will run away and kind of just run back into the population," O'Hara says.

This is the frustrating part for soldiers like Lance Cpl. Jonathan Quiceno, who wants to fire at them in their civilian hiding spots or call in air strikes. "It sucks…all you want to do is get that guy," he tells Pelley. "How many times have we been shot at? How many times do we know a direction…a compound…where these guys are coming at?...But we can't drop ordnance on them because of…civilian casualties."

"It's frustrating. I don't know if anybody really understands the amount of stress that the guys are starting to feel because of that…simply just having your hands tied behind your back," Quiceno says.

The Marines could be in for a long haul, says one of the top generals in the Afghanistan theater. "Well if you look back in history a successful counter insurgency usually lasts at least 14 years," says Army Brig Gen. John Nicholson. "We're early, we're early in that spectrum."

For the full story, watch 60 Minutes Sunday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. ET/PT and visit 60Minutes.com.

Video's

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/09/60minutes/main5374505.shtml

Ellie