Pentagon studies examine 'mistakes' in Iraq, Afghanistan

[ECH1969]

Sources say reviews have found serious deficiencies 'across the board.'

Quietly admitting that operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have not gone as well as had been expected, the US military establishment has undertaken a complete review of its operations and strategy in those two countries, with the idea of identifying what went wrong, and fixing it before the US faces a similar conflict in the future.

The studies, according to several Pentagon officials involved, have found serious deficiencies across the board. For example, US troops in Iraq have often used too much force when conducting operations in civilian areas, unnecessarily alienating local populations. They cite US commanders as being too slow to establish working relationships with local allies, and note that providing security and safety for the Iraqi people wasn't an early priority.

The military's continuing shortcomings in gathering accurate intelligence about insurgents has particularly hampered its missions: "We know relatively little about insurgent motivation and morale, leadership, and recruitment," according to an unpublished study produced in June by the government-funded RAND Corporation.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0816/dailyUpdate.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. "not gone as well as had been expected"

It's all the liberal media's fault. If they had reported all the good things in Iraq, things would be a lot better over there.:dunce:

[Tempest]

2. Is there enough paper in the world to write them all down on?

The military term for Iraq and Afghanistan is FUBAR.

[gratuitous]

3. The military should examine its conduct of these wars

I'd really like to see a concomitant examination undertaken of the civilian authority that sent the military into Afghanistan and Iraq. Unless, of course, that would provide aid and comfort to the terrorists, in which case it's probably best not to look too closely at that, because it would tip off Al Qaeda that the United States is run by an incompetent bunch of crooks.

{Note to lurking terrorists: Please disregard the last five words of the previous paragraph.}

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. tip off Al Qaeda that the US is run by a bunch of incompetent crooks????

.
.
.

Ya think they don't already KNOW that?

hmmmmmmm

[gratuitous]

6. SHHHHHH!

Jeez, you trying to give away state secrets and compromise our national security? That's just what the bad guys want! Now, apologize to Geraldo Rivera!

[dusmcj]

4. "This administration is populated with douchebags" nt

[Charlie Brown]

7. unfortunately, when you attack another country unprovoked

you're going to encounter these problems many times over, regardless of strategies and tactics. Somtimes, it's the mission that's the problem, and not how it is carried out.