Counterinsurgency For U.S. Government Policymakers

[invictus0972]

Gentlemen,

Your underlying assumption is that war and politics are two different entities, but they are one and the same. . .always have been. War and politics are inseperable! According to Dr. Colin Gray, "2. The United States has a persisting strategy deficit. Americans are very competent at fighting, but they are muchless successful in fighting in such a way that they secure thestrategic and, hence, political, rewards they seek. The United
States continues to have difficulty regarding war and politics as a unity, with war needing to be permeated by politicalconsiderations." LTC Nagl further makes this point in his book when he says that one of the biggest mistakes we made in Vietnam was not realizing earlier that it was a political endeavor. This is contrary to many who say, "The only reason we lost in 'Nam is because the politicians got involved!" This is what my dad alway says. Anyway, I agree with Dr. Gray and LTC Nagl. It is impossible to separate the two.

Although I do not recomment it to military leaders with thin skin, I have inserted a link to the article:

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute...les/PUB650.pdf

Very respectfully,

Invictus

[Ken White]

and nowhere did I see anything that led me to believe anyone who'd commented questioned the consanguinity of politics and war. Where did you get the idea that anyone did question it?

Gray's comment is true, Nagl's less so. The WH knew it was political (on several counts) from the start; DoD and the JCS not so much; ComUSMACV initially did not but finally woke up, knew it was political but still refused to adapt and tried to fight a land war in Europe in the rice paddies of SE Asia (until Abrams took over). The point being that 'knowing' and doing are two different things --as Gray points out...

FYI, the Gray monograph has been linked here a couple of times and many have read it, I suspect.

[SteveMetz]

Gentlemen,

Your underlying assumption is that war and politics are two different entities, but they are one and the same. . .always have been. War and politics are inseperable! According to Dr. Colin Gray, "2. The United States has a persisting strategy deficit. Americans are very competent at fighting, but they are muchless successful in fighting in such a way that they secure thestrategic and, hence, political, rewards they seek. The United
States continues to have difficulty regarding war and politics as a unity, with war needing to be permeated by politicalconsiderations." LTC Nagl further makes this point in his book when he says that one of the biggest mistakes we made in Vietnam was not realizing earlier that it was a political endeavor. This is contrary to many who say, "The only reason we lost in 'Nam is because the politicians got involved!" This is what my dad alway says. Anyway, I agree with Dr. Gray and LTC Nagl. It is impossible to separate the two.

Although I do not recomment it to military leaders with thin skin, I have inserted a link to the article:

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute...les/PUB650.pdf

Very respectfully,

Invictus

I'm trying to get Colin to write the foreword to my book.

[Old Eagle]

A Work in Progress

[invictus0972]

I have only read this article; I am sure he has several other great writings. I was telling Ken that I should have known, considering the audience, that this article had be referenced many times.

By the way, have a great trip tomorrow!!

V/r

Invictus

[SteveMetz]

I have only read this article; I am sure he has several other great writings. I was telling Ken that I should have known, considering the audience, that this article had be referenced many times.

By the way, have a great trip tomorrow!!

V/r

Invictus

Colin is always a difficult read, but worth the effort. He makes kind of an interesting counterpoint to Martin van Creveld--both are towering intellects but Colin is very much the strategic traditionalist who believes that traditional state war will again rear its hideous head in the future, while Martin contends that the world has reached the point where conflicts pitting states against nonstate actors will be the dominant if not the only form.

[slapout9]

Hi Steve, don't know if this will help but at the Smart Wars workshop our metrics/country assessment were done this way.

1-Assets

2-Attitude(population)

3-Technology

4-Scope

5-Obstacles

6-Momentum

We prepared one for each system we dealt with and they were prepared from the stand point of what we wanted these metrics to look like in the future. In my case it was 8 months out from the start of the Operation. We prepared one for Turkey, The PPK and The International system all designed to look a certain way in the future. By the categories you see that you can make these as brief or as detailed as you want or the situation demands.

Go Army