Counterinsurgency, Denial, and Iraq

[SteveMetz]

It isn't a question of our winning. It is a question of, in the current cases, the Afghan and Iraqi people winning. To use a soccer, lacrosse, or hockey metaphor--they score the game winning goal, we may get an assist. (Or perhaps we are just the spectators who get to go home satisfied after watching a well played contest. Insert the "God I hope so" emoticon here.)

My feeling is that by conceptualizing armed conflict as a sport, Americans squeeze themselves into strategically untenable boxes. I'm not contesting whether it is us or an ally that technically "gets the win," but whether pursuing a win in general is a good idea.

My reading of recent conflicts is that it is the conflict itself that generates problems and threats (terrorism, crime, humanitarian disasters, economic problems). By holding out for a "win," we help sustain conflicts. Hence I favor a peacekeeping rather than a warfighting model.

[wm]

My feeling is that by conceptualizing armed conflict as a sport, Americans squeeze themselves into strategically untenable boxes. I'm not contesting whether it is us or an ally that technically "gets the win," but whether pursuing a win in general is a good idea.

I agree. I had a long internal debate about using a sports metaphor for exactly the reasons you note.

I lost out to the evil voices in my head, but at least got to water it down by indicating we might just be spectators in the big game (and hadn't bet against the spread, by the way)