"We can’t interfere in any way with a mosque unless they are shooting at us"

Western (i.e. civilised) fighting forces like the US, Brits, and Israelis just don't seem to understand that you cannot fight the Islamafascists with one hand tied behind your back. All over the Muslim world MUSLIMS are bombing mosques and mosques are used as the nerve centre for weapons caches and terrorist activity. Yet western forces have rules of engagement that forbid them to even enter a mosque. In Michael Totten's excellent report of his embedding with a group of US soldiers in Baghdad searching for a senior Al Quaeda operative includes the following dialoge (when four terrorists are spotted on the roof of a mosque):

“They have a little bunker up there,” he continued. “You can’t see it from here, but it has sand bags and sniper netting around it.”

“What are you going to do?” I said.

“Nothing,” he said. “It’s a mosque.”

“They’re violating curfew,” I said, “and stalking us in the dark from a militarized mosque. And you aren’t going to do anything?”

“Our rules of engagement say we can’t interfere in any way with a mosque unless they are shooting at us,” he said.

We left our stalker with his “co-workers” and walked away.

And people wonder why the Americans aren't winning in Iraq!