British troops launch major Taliban assault

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail....rgents-heartland.html

/// The assault has been widely publicised in an effort to convince civilians and wavering fighters to leave Marjah,.///

Is it a good idea to advertise one's military plans to the enemy, so soon?

Would it have been less risk to ground troops to give a warning to the civilians to leave, and then conduct an air strike, before sending in the ground troops?

/// Major General Gordon Messenger, strategic communications office for Afghanistan, said: 'We want to do it in the least aggressive way possible. But we can't discount a fight and we can't discount casualties.'///

Are the lives of insurgents more valuable to our politicians than their own troops?

[Oneeyedvic]

The only way of 'winning' a war is to win over "Hearts and Minds".

Forcing people to leave their homes and them bombing the hell out of them, isn;t a great way of appealing to them (and in fact can drive them straight in to the arms of the Taliban).

[jake-the-peg]

Not as much as leaving them in their homes and bombing the hell out of them does!

[rov1200]

Didn't we use a similar attack on Fallujah in Iraq?