Are we fighting ourselves in Afghanistan?

Military blogger Michael Yon has some critical words for U.S. Defense officials today, noting that the U.S. military is "stuck in the mud" in Afghanistan and that our government is causing our troops more frustration than our enemies:

Nothing is more maddening than watching the incompetence of our own side become more disadvantageous than enemy bombs and bullets. We are not just fighting the enemy. We are fighting against ourselves.

For example, after 11 years of war, our leadership is still forcing unarmed MEDEVAC helicopters to fly over Afghanistan.  They force our pilots and crews to fly into danger, unarmed, while displaying the Red Cross, the symbol of the Crusaders.  I would give a hundred bucks to fly a Red Cross-emblazoned Blackhawk into a hot LZ with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey aboard.

Secretary Panetta and our Generals pretend that we must display Red Crosses to be in compliance with the Geneva Conventions.  This is false.  We are not obligated to display the Red Cross. None of our allied partners display them on their helicopters in Afghanistan.  The Norwegians and other armies removed them.  It was nothing more than common sense.

The Taliban pay no heed to the Geneva Conventions.  When our MEDEVACs do display the Red Cross, it is illegal for them to carry offensive weapons.  The Taliban know this. A helicopter wearing the Red Cross is defenseless. Red Crosses do not just offend the religious sensibilities of the Taliban: they embolden them. The Taliban consider our MEDEVACs to be an easy kill. And they are.

Is it any wonder that we are losing this war?