So was Afghanistan. What, we thought we were better than the Soviets and the British Empire? Tactical hubris. Imagine if we had diplomacied our way through? My goodness, that world...
So was Afghanistan. What, we thought we were better than the Soviets and the British Empire? Tactical hubris. Imagine if we had diplomacied our way through? My goodness, that world...
Hard agree although maybe more strategic hubris. I served for a few years, spent my youth as a dependent of a diplomat. There is value in having a potent defense but when more money is spent on defense than diplomacy, domestic social programs, foreign aid, and building alliances…then we lose.
There were plenty of officers who believed the transformation hype. More still who preferred keeping as many troops out of it as possible. Shinseki was the lone maverick hung out to dry.
Fighting a war is relatively easy - if you have the right capability, but we rarely ever think of the day after and what next. We are very good at breaking things but not so good at the long game. If we spent more time on the long game, we’d break fewer things.
And no, war is never “easy”. It is incredibly destructive and painful and comes at a huge cost
LogPower answers those issues.