Tom got an email from RP linking a transcript of a chat session with Thomas Ricks, author of the new book FIASCO: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. RP quoted Ricks:
One senior officer in Iraq told me earlier this year that about one-third of his subordinate officers "get it," one- third are trying but not really getting it, and one-third just want to kick a little butt. That means your force is probably less than half effective, and part of it is counterproductive.Tom's comment:
The percentages strike me as very accurate and somewhat inescapable, given the current force.But made sufficiently coalitional, the SysAdmin force can be easily built out an American "coalition of the willing/made able."