By Dave Anderson:
As Steve has repeatedly noted, US COIN doctrine sounds really good as a 'kinder, gentler' war where troops should earn medals for courageous restraint. However the reality is quite different, population-centric COIN quickly becomes force-protection COIN as the incentives of strategic mission success of protecting the population even at the risk of increased US fatalities and casualties do not outweigh the promotion potential and the political shit-storm that arises from being seen as placing foreigners above US lives.
Two individuals whose actions were tremendously counter-productive in COIN terms but appeal to the American exceptionalists are competive candidates for Congress this cycle. The Daily Beast has more:
Last week, Ilario Pantano won the Republican nomination in North Carolina's 7th District, setting up a challenge to incumbent Democrat Rep. Mike McIntyre in November....
In April 2004, Pantano killed two unarmed Iraqi detainees, twice unloading his gun into their bodies and firing between 50 and 60 shots in total. Afterward, he placed a sign over the corpses featuring the Marines' slogan "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" as a message to the local population....
Retired Lt. Col. Allen West, running in Florida's 22nd District to replace Democratic Rep. Ron Klein, seems to revel in them.
West was forced to retire from the Army and fined $5,000 after he admitted to apprehending an Iraqi policeman he suspected of planning an ambush, watching as his troops beat him, and then firing a gunshot by the Iraqi's head in order to scare him into divulging information. West said the decision saved lives by preventing an ambush. But no plot was ever discovered and the policeman in question later told The New York Times that he had no knowledge of any attacks.
Such an incident might be a source of shame for some officers. But not for West, who has developed a superstar following among Republicans by portraying himself as a real-life Jack Bauer.
"You might recall that in 2003, I made the decision where I sacrificed my military career for the lives of my men," he was quoted in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel as saying in a 2007 campaign speech�his first bid for the Florida House seat, which he lost...
The incentives don't line up for any US officer to practice true population-centric COIN at the risk of taking US casualties. Two officers who were practicing the closest thing to anti-population-centric COIN are plausible Congress-critters on the basis of their perception of 'toughness' and false 'heroism.'
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