Quote Originally Posted by slapout9 View Post
Nice find Bill. So after all your experiences in SF which of our past and present administrations have had the best Policies with regard to UW/COIN/IW or what ever it is being called now.
Slapout,

A quick response at the end of my lunch break. First off I think that is a great question that deserves more than a quick response, but until I can dwell on it longer the quick answer is President Bush Sr. For every administration it is easy to find fault in many decisions in hindsight, so I try to focus on I think they knew at the time and their rationale for making the decision. President Bush Sr was very cautious and deliberate, and in my opinion professionally managed the Kuwait and Panama scenarios. Avoiding a quagmire in both scenarios, and a couple of smaller contingencies. Obviously a bit of mis-step in Somalia (or maybe the military mis-stepped by proposing we take sides and diverted a humanitarian assistance mission into something else).

Both President Bush Sr and President Carter saw combat during WWII, but in my opinion Carter didn't make decisions based on global realities, but rather the way he hoped the world was, and he was constantly disappointed. Bush Sr was a realist.

Reagan did a lot in the UW realm, and while there were victories, especially in Afghanistan, I'm not convinced it was as well done as it could have been if we looked beyond the short term goal of ousting the Soviets, but then again that all seems so clear in hindsight.