Robert,
One acute observer of the US policy-making community in a book review noted:Does anyone within this community want to ask themselves this question, let alone commit it to paper?...a US policy community and military who have repeated in Iraq and Afghanistan the mistakes made in Vietnam. These include a failure by the military to scope out the nature of the threats they are facing, and the propensity of the policy community to either ignore or shoot the bearer of unwelcome tidings.....
One could argue that the ability of the policy-maker to directly observe and control the use of military force makes questioning harder. Add in embedded media and the rest that can enable the domestic public to watch.
It would be very painful for the US military and beyond to acknowledge that today it has repeated the tactical brilliance of WW2 Germany (notably the army and air force), so misunderstanding the broader issues involved in war.
Who would have thought when the USA exited South Vietnam, with much anguish, embarrassment and pain that a united Vietnam has such close, friendly relations just as it 'pivots' back to Asia?
SWC has debated military adaptation many times, plus a few times for non-military partners. We need A2A: ability to adapt.
Do we recognise our opponents mistakes enough?
Luckily I read your post and this evening a long review of Williamson Murray's 'Military Adaptation and War: With Fear of Change', by Ben Barry in Survival (December 2012-January 2013, catching up my pile of journals ).
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