Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerica's Sinkhole Wars
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/31/americas-sinkhole-warsTo be sure, the United States military routinely demonstrates astonishing technical prowess -- putting a pair of Hellfire missiles through the roof of the taxi in which Mansour was riding, for example. Yet if winning -- that is, ending wars on conditions favorable to our side -- offers the measure of merit by which to judge a nations military forces, then when put to the test ours have been found wanting.
Not for lack of trying, of course. In their quest for a formula that might actually accomplish the mission, those charged with directing U.S. military efforts in the Greater Middle East have demonstrated notable flexibility. They have employed overwhelming force and shock-and awe. They have tried regime change (bumping off Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, for example) and decapitation (assassinating Mansour and a host of othermilitant leaders, including Osama Bin Laden). They have invaded and occupied countries, even giving military-style nation-building a whirl. They have experimented with counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, peacekeeping and humanitarian intervention, retaliatory strikes and preventive war. They have operated overtly, covertly, and through proxies. They have equipped, trained, and advised -- and when the beneficiaries of these exertions have folded in the face of the enemy, they have equipped, trained, and advised some more. They have converted American reservists into quasi-regulars, subject to repeated combat tours. In imitation of the corporate world, they have outsourced as well, handing over to profit-oriented private security firms functions traditionally performed by soldiers. In short, they have labored doggedly to translate American military power into desired political outcomes.
In this one respect at least, an endless parade of three- and four-star generals exercising command in various theaters over the past several decades have earned high marks. In terms of effort, they deserve an A.
As measured by outcomes, however, they fall well short of a passing grade. However commendable their willingness to cast about for some method that might actually work, they have ended up waging a war of attrition. Strip away the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel reassurances regularly heard at Pentagon press briefings or in testimony presented on Capitol Hill and Americas War for the Greater Middle East proceeds on this unspoken assumption: if we kill enough people for a long enough period of time, the other side will eventually give in.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 559 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (6)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
America's Sinkhole Wars (Original Post)
eridani
Jun 2016
OP
Nay
(12,051 posts)1. "For the broader fight, there IS no strategy." I agree that there seems to be no
overarching win-the-war strategy to the way we ping-pong around, trying different tactics (assassination, troop deployment, training locals, raiding houses, hating locals one day and loving them the next, etc., etc.) but my contention would be that we DO have a strategy -- enrich military contractors -- that TPTB does not want to articulate for obvious reasons. I think it's gotten that bad.
Bigmack
(8,020 posts)2. Kicking. Anything from Bacevitch is golden. nt