Pentagon recommends Medal of Honor for a 'living' soldier
Perhaps the story should not be presented until the decision is confirmed. Certainly will lend to a lot of discussion over the terrain covered in this story.
Pentagon recommends Medal of Honor for a living soldier
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews
Good catch, thanks for posting it.
Though in the future, post a link as you did and then you don't need to paste the entire article, just a short excerpt will do -- that way the Blog avoids copyright problems...
This:
Quote:
"We should be stationing our troops in places where they won't be earning the Medal of Honor because the population and terrain favor us and we have quick access to air support," said John Nagl, one of the authors of the Army's counterinsurgency doctrine and president of the Center for a New American Security, a defense think tank.
has to be one of the less intelligent comments I've read in a few days. Surely he was misquoted...
concur with Ken on the Nagl quote.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ken White
Though in the future, post a link as you did and then you don't need to paste the entire article, just a short excerpt will do -- that way the Blog avoids copyright problems...
This:has to be one of the less intelligent comments I've read in a few days. Surely he was misquoted...
I suspect as well though that it overstates his true position by being out of context.
It touches though the balancing act in Afghanistan. Many from N. Afghanistan feel that the Coaliton is "rewarding bad behavior" by focusing development in the south. They also are very fearful of Karzai reaching out to those they worked to run off in the first place.
You must retain the support of the populace that is satisfied and therefore loyal, while reaching out to that segment that is not. We are not balancing well, or even at least explaining why things are done in certain ways.
The irony is though, that even though focus may by in "troubled areas", within those areas we tend to bring goodness to the secure areas such as described by Dr. Nagl. We have a generally right idea, but then becuase it is too hard to really do it right we goof it up at the last minute and end up reinforcing the wealth and power of Karzai's cronnies.
Good Governance is hard. (Glad to hear that we are getting away from "death" being a prerequisite for extreme valor though!)
"Poor Governance" = "Conditions of Insurgency"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Umar Al-Mokhtār
Hell, we barely have it here. :D
This is a challenge for everyone. A constant challenge for everyone. No one can rest on their laurels on this issue.