A good sign of success in the Army's rapid evolution toward its SysAdmin past/future: the counter-skewering of straw men has begun
Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 1:53AM NATIONAL WEEKLY EDITION: "Countering the Military's Latest Mantra: It's possible that the 'counterinsurgency' isn't responsible for progress in Iraq," buy Celeste Ward, Washington Post, 25-31 May 2009.
An uninspired op-ed that "breaks" the wisdom that's become so conventional as to be stale: Maybe the surge wasn't just about better counterinsurgency ops?!?!?!
A long-time (20 months constitutes a long time in my book) political adviser to Gen. Chiarelli, Ward says it wasn't really an insurgency so you can't credit COIN.
Her argument is akin to the "hybrid war" perspective: look closely enough and it's a cats-and-dogs world, ranging from low-tech this to high-tech that and it's all impossible to categorize so we must prepare for everything (hmmm, helpful, so let me now begin to prepare for all contingencies equally and I will call that a strategy). And such a "chaotic scrum" doesn't meet the official definition of a group dedicated to overthrowing the existing government (Ah, always good to review the official rule book for technical definitions).
Hence, a closer look at why the violence went down in Iraq says there were multiple reasons, and citing our change in tactics as the be-all answer isn't enough. Plus, there were officers all along in various places who engaged in solid rebuilding efforts--however isolated.
So now COIN is derided as the proverbial hammer searching the entire world for nails. It must, therefore, be doctrinaire in the extreme, I guess, and unable to adapt itself whatsoever to local conditions.
Alrighty then!
Thus, we are told that we have to adapt ourselves to the new complexities of Afghanistan, so dubbing McChrystal the new "Petraeus of Afghanistan" isn't enough!
Whew!
That was a close one!
Glad to have that mess all cleared up. I really thought a one-size-fits-all COIN manual would take care of the entire world--from now til the end of time.
Imagine my disappointment.
But I guess it had to be said.
Here's my essential beef with the piece (besides all the previous snark): just when we start to learn, we now get people complaining that we're learning too much too fast, thus the strawman-renderings of COIN have begun.
Reader Comments (1)
It would better if they got that experience at the E-6 to O-3 working level. It would be even better if the players had been involved in at least two different environments. One of the few advantages of being involved in both Iraq and Afghanistan at the same times is learning lessons related to different physical environments and cultures.