The second problem, in my opinion, is the word "counter" with its defensive overtones.
This quote made me think about initiative. If we look at Iraq before we went in there was no active insurgency. After we attack there is an insurgency. By saying that counter-insurgency ops is naturally reactive and defensive in nature isn't that denying the fact that the insurgency itself is reactionary? Or does that imply that we lost the initiative somewhere in between the initial attack and the transition to stability operations?