I assume you read the whole story? His point is that the military is unable to transition from one type of conflict to another. However the facts of the last 7 years prove him wrong implicitly. We start with a very unconventional war in Afghanistan, transition to a more conventional peace keeping force, and start and win(the invasion/war in Iraq is over, this is Iraq pt3) a conventional armored war and move into a counter insurgency/stability operation.
I'm so tired of hearing about how we are destroying our military. Look at how long people remained activated and in theater in WW1, WW2, and during the Civil War. Remember those conflicts were far more horrific in nature than anything we see today. He's a mid level officer, who knows he's heading into his last promotion before he retires with tenure at the USMA. He's getting his name published, probably for a follow on book. Gruss Gott wrote: > "The reduction in violence has had more to do with the Iraqis than the > Americans. First, senior American leaders began paying our former > enemies -- non-al-Qaida Sunni insurgents -- large amounts of money to > become U.S. allies in fighting al-Qaida. Second, the Shiite militia > leader Moqtada al-Sadr announced a six-month cease-fire and stood down > his attacks against Iraqi Sunnis and coalition forces; recently, he > extended the cease-fire for another six months. Absent those two > necessary conditions, there would have been no let up in the level of > violence despite the surge." > > In his writings, Lt. Col. Gian Gentile, a history professor at West > Point and a combat veteran, argues that the counterinsurgency strategy > Gen. David Petraeus is pursuing in Iraq by isn't primarily responsible > for reducing violence there and that the U.S. military's focus on such > tactics is eroding its ability to wage large-scale conventional wars: > > http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=1715 > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;192386516;25150098;k Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:258131 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
