Brian Jones: “I want to share with the House words from George Will. It was a syndicated column that he wrote on the 20th of June of…”

“I want to share with the House words from George Will. It was a syndicated column that he wrote on the 20th of June of this year. The title is ``An NCO recognizes a flawed Afghanistan strategy.'' In receipt of a recent email from a noncommissioned officer serving in Afghanistan, he explains why the rules of engagement for U.S. troops are too prohibitive for coalition forces to achieve sustained tactical success. Receiving mortar fire during an overnight mission, his unit called for a 155 millimeter howitzer illumination round to be fired to reveal the enemy's location. The request was rejected, and I quote, Madam Speaker, ``on the grounds that it may cause collateral damage.'' The NCO says that the only thing that comes down from an illumination round is a cannister, and the likelihood of it hitting someone or something was akin to that of being struck by lightning. I further read from this article: ``Returning from a mission, his unit took casualties from an improvised explosive device that the unit knew had been placed no more than an hour earlier.'' I quote again: ``There were villagers laughing at the U.S. casualties'' and ``two suspicious individuals were seen fleeing the scene and entering a home.'' U.S. forces are no longer allowed to search homes without Afghan National Security Forces personnel present.”