If soldiers are approached by strangers with uncertain intent, they are expected to follow an escalation-of-force protocol known as "shout (stop!), show (a weapon), shove, shoot." The trouble is, if an enemy is allowed to approach within shoving distance, it could be much too late.

During Allen's first tour, when American soldiers suspected terrorist activity in a house or building, they blew down the door and charged inside. Now, says Allen, "We have to knock and ask if we can enter. If they say no, we tell them we're coming in anyway, but if they tell us to give them time so their women can cover their faces and arms, we have to give them five minutes. Meanwhile, they could be hiding things or arming weapons."

As a sniper, Allen was trained to provide long-distance precision fire support for combat operations, as well as perform recon and surveillance missions for the infantry. In the beginning, if he saw, for instance, terrorists burying a bomb at a known IED site, he was allowed free-fire capability.

"Now you have to call it in and get permission to engage, but more than likely they would send out a force to try to detain them, and by the time they got there (the terrorists) were gone. The only way we can protect ourselves from punishment if we engage is if we have proof or a photo of (a terrorist) putting the bomb in the ground and arming it."

Who's running this war, the ACLU? If we learned anything from Vietnam — and apparently we didn't — it's this: If we are going to go to war, if we are going to put soldiers in harm's way, don't tie their hands and put politicians in charge.

As Allen says, "If we could just do our job, we'd be fine. But we can't because of politics."

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesday. Please send e-mail to drob@desnews.com.