Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
Since counterinsurgency is won politically and psychologically, if we don't have civilians who can lead a counterinsurgency effort, we'd be better off not doing it rather than miliarizing it. If all you have is a hammer, all the world may LOOK like a nail, but it isn't. How much time to you think Petreaus is spending working with Maliki to try and deal with corruption, a political solution that will placate at least some of the Sunnis without distorting the democratic process, etc?
Couldn't agree more. Counterinsurgency is not our forte and for all the successes in our past, most were fraught with missteps and the wrong person at the wrong time. Wayne (interesting corollary, that), Miles, Crook and Funston were not the first to attempt what they pretty well accomplished. The acquired patience of the populace and the slowness of news travel in those days is gone, thus our ability to engage in a protracted campaign of any sort is not good. Strategic thinking ought to focus on that because it is important.

With respect to Ricks, I suspect you're correct. I also think he's wrong. I think Bush probably established some rapport with Petraeus (though the reverse may not be true) and thus tends to cite him as one he knows and is inclined to trust. I also suspect he and Crocker would draw sparks at fifty paces...

Obviously the 'blame it on the military' mantra will be politically popular (and totally party or personality immaterial). It is virtually a given. Party dependent, the MSM will likely join in. If the Army is smart, they'll pre-empt that by honestly admitting their mistakes and sooner rather than later. Far sooner...

We all know the reluctance of the institution to tolerate criticism and its reflexive ability to try to cover things up (almost all of which fail miserably) but the Army needs to do some real quick navel gazing and own up to a lot of dumb mistakes.

We are an attack minded nation and Army, we don't do defense all that well. I think there's a message in that...