General McCaffrey Iraq AAR

[TheCurmudgeon]

Why isn't a nonfunctional national government the center of gravity? /QUOTE MattC86

I would have to agree that the national government should be the center of gravity. Unfortunately most military people will not look at the friendly political insitutions as centers of gravity because the military cannot affect them. They are outside our sphere of influence so we do not include them in our thought process.

Security has to come first, though it is kind of a chicken and egg issue. Without security you cannot have a stable government; without a stable government it is difficult to train, equip and manage a professional security force.

Security is a funny term. We keep hearing that the population wants security. We interpret that to mean they want someone in a tank patroling thier neighborhood. They could very will mean that they want a place to live and a steady income.

There are many pitfalls in this evolution, the desire for security has driven many states into the hands of dictators. There are far more Napoleons than there are Washingtons.

Based on this assessment, that is where we are headed. THe only element of the government that is going to be funtional will be the military. As the military continues to grow implatient with the failures of the civlian government they will feel the duty to take charge. Happens all the time.

I guess we (the military) either need to learn to get better at building functioning governments or worse at FID missions.

So it seems that we have to increase our political efforts or quit trying to force a form of government on them they cannot work in. Perhaps we should look to a rentier form of government like the UAE or Kuwait as the model.