The Savage Wars of Peace
Ken,and it ain't looking good for the home team barring some reform in Congress...
American History would seem to indicate that this is an ongoing issue. I picked up Max Boot's 'The Savage Wars of Peace' (ISBN 978-0-465-00721-9) recently and as of page 252 of 428 Max appears to be saying (the broad brush analysis is mine) that the Marines and Navy have been running 'cost effective' (from a civilian standpoint) ops in support of dollar diplomacy in one form or another for the Barbary Wars (~1801 - 1815), Marquesas (1813), China (1859), Korea (1879), Samoa (1899), China (1900), Philippines )1899-1902), Cuba/Panama/Nicaragua/Mexico (1898-1914), Hati (1915-1934), Dominican Republic (1916-1924), Mexico (1916-1917), Russia (1918-1920), Nicaragua (1926-1933), and China (1901-1941)...his examples continue on through 1990's but I haven't got that far yet.
From my view on the small patch of Iraq I ran around in, things today look very similar to what has gone on before. The current cost/benefit ratio of Iraq/Afghanistan appears to be very different than these 'smaller' wars but the bureaucratic gears continue to run slowly and it seems we will have to wait awhile to see real change on interagency coordination. What are your thoughts on something along the lines of Goldwater Nichols for interagency issues ever seeing the light of day?
Regards,
Steve
Bookmarks