By Steve Hynd
In a recent interview with Michael Hastings, COIN-skeptic Colonel Douglas Macgregor attacked the "safe" mentality of the current generation of generals:
What the generals have today Afghanistan and Iraq, they like. There is no maneuver. You move in, you have a very weak adversary, you set up a base, and you do operations from the base. Your enemy has no armor, no artillery, no air force. You are able to go where you like and do what you like. There are no high risk maneuvers. There are no exceptionally agile or dangerous enemies that can put your forces in complete risk. This is not 1950�the 8th Army is not in danger of being overrun by the North Koreans or the Chinese. The generals are much more comfortable with static light infantry warfare against a weak adversary that drags on for years because it is low risk for them.
...I didn�t say it made sense, or that it was in the strategic interest of the American people. But the generals like it because it�s something they can manage and control, at least in their minds. If you have a temporary problem you bring more firepower to bear on an enemy that has no means of defending itself... These are things the generals are comfortable with. They�re not looking at strategic outcomes. There is no strategy, in both cases.
This, to me, sounds very close to outright accusing Petraeus et al of talking the U.S. into long COIN occupations because they are a cushy way to feather their careers with "combat" commands while never actually facing a real risk of losing. What do you think?
Deep down inside Petraeus is a political hack. This has been obvious since he first came unto the scene.
ReplyDeleteand don't forget the endless $$$$$$ flowing from the usa taxpayers into the defense industry coffers.
ReplyDeleteThe nature and character of David Petraeus was readily apparent the day he wrote the op-ed for George W. Bush just prior to the 2004 election.
ReplyDelete"The problem is, people mistake the weakness of these Islamic societies as opportunity for development. They don�t understand you cannot drag a billion people in the Islamic world through the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution in just a few years, install U.S. concepts of governance and expect them to embrace it and maintain it. Not just in Iraq but also in Afghanistan."
ReplyDeleteI've been saying this for years, the ME is an artificial construct created by the Turks and the Brits, the population needs a century on its own to sort out what they are. Instead of defining themselves as against the west.