Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath

[Bullmoose Bailey]

This is a great Occasional paper. For pro-military and or conservatives it may not be what you want to hear but it is based on fact and apparently well reasearched and documented; coming from the War College we should expect as much. In true military fashion, it is an honest evaluation of the Iraq invasion and provides great levels of detail on the plans and rationale leading to the war as well as its' prosecution. I particularly like this segement of text:

"To date, the war in Iraq is a classic case of failure to adopt and adapt prudent courses of action that balance ends, ways, and means. After the major combat operation, U.S. policy has been insolvent, with inadequate means for pursuing ambitious ends. It is also a case where the perceived illegitimacy of our policy has led the United States to bear a disproportionate share of the war’s burden. U.S. efforts in Iraq stand in stark contrast to the war in Afghanistan, where, to the surprise of many, U.S.
friends and allies have recently taken up a larger share of the burden of that conflict. Afghanistan has become the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) war, but the war in Iraq has increasingly become only a U.S. and Iraqi struggle. The British drawdown in Basra in the summer of 2007 heightened the isolation of the U.S. and Iraqi governments."

The author is very critical of "policy" rather than the executors of the policy, the military. I agree with the failure to adopt and adapt at the national level. At the operational level and below I think our units are doing this very thing; granted it took a while. At any rate this is a great analytical paper that really cause you to think and likely reevaluate your stance on the situation in Iraq.

Regarding the "illegitimacy of our policy"...

We do not choose war, war & similar entropic effects are part of nature; the second law of thermodynamics & Newtonian Physics.

Jesus Christ said (There will be wars & rumours of wars until the end of the age).

You see the liberal temptation; make a liar out of the Saviour & destroy the USA, kill two birds with one stone. I'm sure they'd love that.

So in a very real way we never choose war, it chose us & is a part of human imperfection. It is in how we acknowledge this reality & live with it that we dedine ourselves. We can be ignorrant, cowardly or dutiful; the choice is yours.....