Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we ask the Big Army to become a nation builder/political gap closer.

They are a force designed to kill, capture, etc... and, on the side, do short-term immediate response humanitarian relief/disaster recovery efforts where their unique logistical structure is both appropriate and irreplaceable.

Somehow, the lines got crossed so that the Pentagon took on missions not do-able through UN, DoS/USAID, and nobody had the gumption to say anything other than "Hua!," when they should have said "Hooey!."

The FM is a result of the political/admin/mission creep confusion that brought us to this point.

Where I disagree with Gentile is the level of critique/reassessment.

I think that Iraq today forms an excellent lab to compare what we did to what resulted. No need to draw inaccurate correlations to obscure alternatives.

The analysis, though, should be done by competent civilians, and not military, or they will just miss the whole point (over-and-over).

Steve