Operationalizing The Jones Model through COG

[Bob's World]

Yes I did, but I've sort of quit that except for an occasional stray round. He's too wedded to the dream to change. Much of what he advocates is worthwhile and it may do some good. Some is less worthwhile. Some is arguable.

One should take care to insure that ones desires do not become "truths."

I have long said that poor governance is not the only cause of insurgency and that good governance is not only solution. Others make the same points but Bob continues to see "truths." S'okay, everyone ought to have ideals and dreams. Maybe the good points will get some traction...

Young Henry Ford was too wed to the idea that horseless carriages were better than the way we had always done it with horses;

Those darn Wright brothers and their fool contraption were way to wedded too the idea of powered flight as well.

As to the "fuzziness" of goodness. Read the paper. Insurgency IS fuzzy. That's why governments and militaries stuggle with it so mightily. They try to solve it by "defeating it." Kill the members of your populace who dare to challenge your failed ways. Or worse for the US, go help the failed governments of another country kill the members of their populace. It's not working.

I say again: It's not working.

So, like the Ranger instructor in your face: "Are you as F'd up as you want to be??" There's no good answer to that. Sure we know were F'd up, but we don't want to be, we just don't know what else to do.

Legitimacy is not a difficult concept. It comes from the people. Figure out how the people in a troubled area bestow legitimacy and simply empower that. Don't force them to do it your way (elections); don't pick their candidates for them (Hello, meet Mr. Karzai); and most importantly of all, don't try to shape the outcome in terms of form, nature or manning of said government and be willing to work with or abandon whatever emerges from the process. That is not complicated. But it does fly in the face of 60 years of control-based Cold War Strategy.

Hope is not a difficult concept either. Why are the teabaggers in America not an insurgency right now? They challenge the legitimacy of the President; They feel that they are not receiving Justice; and they sure as hell don't feel that they receive any respect. (A fellow SF Colonel who is extremely liberal told me with a straight face that "conservatives just aren't as smart as liberals." They believe that, it rationalizes their behavior and empowers them to ignore the express will of the ignorant masses and provide what they know is best for them). But in all of that, the Tea Party members have one thing that no current government can take from them. Its the same thing that the Bush administration could not take away from a equally frustrated liberal community: Hope. They know the system is strong, and that it will prevent any one approach to governance from enduring. Sure it disrupts the good a bit, but it is a showstopper for the bad. We have a system in America born of insurgency, and it is designed to prevent insurgency because of it.

Or we could just do capture kill on the Tea Party Leadership; Or perhaps try to buy them off with development projects; or maybe if we need help, bring in a couple hundred thousand Chinese military and aid workers to help provide security and development. We could have Chinese Captains and Majors advising our Cabinet members, Congressmen and Generals. We could have the Chinese show us how they pick leaders, and have them apply that process to picking and sustaining the leaders here that they think are best for us (when we know they really mean best for them) That should work. Right?? Good luck with that.

No, I'll keep banging my drum. I like the sound of it. I think some of the otherr members of the band are sounding a little flat though