Quote Originally Posted by Jedburgh View Post
However, the original piece Steven linked to was written in a tone of frustration and defeatism, using multiple false analogies to reinforce points not put in an operational context and ultimately offered no recommendations or solutions, or than to leave Iraq. A simple opinion piece; yes, it made points, but it lacks substance.
I am not as clear as to the author's ultimate intent in writing the piece. LTC Gentile has since given us a little more insight in his response to Rob's post. But what his intention was really matters little anymore, for at least two reasons.

First, the piece is no longer what the author submitted. As LTC Gentile noted, the editors of the SF Chronicle chose to evoke editorial privilege and gut his 1200 word article. (I have my suspicions about their reasons, and they have nothing to do with an interest by the Chronicle's editors in saving ink and newsprint.)

Second, I think it is very important to recognize that the written word, once released to the public, is freed completely of its author's intentions. I viewed the op-ed as an expression of the author's struggle to come to grips with the "mission-welfare of the force" dilemma. We see another intrepretation in the quotation from Jedburgh above. I suspect many other readers will take it as an argument for not continuing the fight and for avoidiing involvement in future conflicts that devolve into COIN battles.

I hope that those who choose to publish, particularly in the mainstream meadia, carefully weigh the possibilities of their words and intentions being greatly misconstrued. When we mistake the effects of what we do or say on others, we can end up with some horrendous results. By most accounts, WWI resulted from a gross miscalculatiuon on the part of the Austro-Hungarians to the reaction to their crossing into Serbia in 1914. In a much less horrible example, we have recently been witness to a range of reactions to the Countererpunch piece in which Price mistook the intention of the authors of FM3-24.