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A word of warning for those who have never fought in COIN- counter-insurgency- warfare. IT DOES NOT WORK.
Whilst my heart goes out to the gun-fodder of the American GI, I cannot condone the unproven method of high altitude bombing. For every child that is injured in such operations, the recruiting sergeants for the terrorist organisations get another family of volunteers.
Whilst my heart goes out to the gun-fodder of the American GI, I cannot condone the unproven method of high altitude bombing. For every child that is injured in such operations, the recruiting sergeants for the terrorist organisations get another family of volunteers.
I believe we (the US) use precision-targeted bombs and missiles, it's not like we're just carpet-bombing the whole place.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point, though, angering the locals is counter-productive, and even precision missiles hit the wrong targets.
I believe that our advanced technology is largely irrelevant in this war, and we need to focus more on the human aspect of it.
Cheers,
Nazar.
Precision bombing?
ReplyDeleteWhy have there been so many Blue on Blue?
Technology cannot work without the grunt on the ground, a grunt well trained with lots of experienced older grunts who know the languages and customs to guide and advise the novice. And you need non-political officers who can interpret the information objectively.
Notareargunner, I absolutely agree with you regarding the guys on the ground. Our greatest tool in this counter-insurgency (besides the locals themselves) is our Special Forces soldiers. They are, as far as I know, the only American military unit that knows the languages of foreign countries, and focus their training on training the security forces of other nations. However, we only have about 9,500 of them, which is probably not enough.
ReplyDeleteOf course, we could supplement that by using more British military personnel. You guys know how to run foreign countries, you've been doing it for hundreds of years back when you had an empire, and most of the countries that were ruled by Britain at one point seem to be doing pretty good (which is why I am totally perplexed by this disdain for "imperialism", but I digress).
Unfortunately, accidents do happen in war, and friendly fire is an occasional mishap. I am sure that the American military goes out of its way to minimize this, though.
Also, I noticed that the British controlled part of Iraq seems to be a lot more pacified than its US counterpart. Britain is America's best ally, and we sure could use more of your help, contrary to what Mr. Robert Gates might say.
All the best,
Nazar