I was a kid during Desert Storm. I would run home from school to watch his briefings, he was sort-of the quintessential “comic book” military commander, imposing, snappy yet likeable. General “Stormin Norman” Schwarzkopf, whose real nickname was “Bear,” was a seriously cunning military strategist and commander and a true patriot. Operation Desert Storm was the result of over a decade and a half of fixing what went wrong in Vietnam. The Powell Doctrine, clear objectives and an exit strategy were all hallmarks of that successful campaign. Sadly, a decade later we somehow thought that our technology, intelligence, and exceptionalism would somehow make those hard learned lessons and proven strategies no longer worthwhile to uphold in regards to the Global War On Terror. General Schwarzkopf and Bush Sr. knew damn well that going all the way to Baghdad would have been a bloody and long endured mistake, and it turns out they were very right.
Way to hit the nail on the head. Exceptionalism, by another name, is arrogance. I think arrogance was one of the biggest driving forces that got us into war in Iraq.
we somehow thought… those hard learned lessons and proven strategies no longer worthwhile to uphold in regards to the Global War On Terror
I’d wager that getting bogged down in exhaustive wars has more to do with trying to fight a meme rather than not having an exit strategy.
The reason we’re still in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the same reason we spent nine years in Iraq, is because we thoroughly pissed off entire legions of people over the last century. We gave them little option but to support beardy wierdies after using their leaders as pawns in a giant game of Risk with the Soviets, and then we wondered why militant Islamism is on the rise. Chances are that if the US is fighting a war these days, it’s to cause regime change or murder prospective terrorists.
Except the problem with the terrorism meme is it passes national borders like water through a semipermeable membrane, and it feeds off of press releases. American drones might assassinate an Al Qaeda leader every couple of months, but even these ‘targeted’ killings produce (widely reported) civilian casualties that have helped destabilise Pakistan and so worsen the problem. Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen would all fail to meet the requirements of the Weinberger doctrine because it is also impossible to ‘win’ or ‘clearly define military objectives’ against the enemy when it comprises anyone who hates you enough to fight you.
Truth is that you can’t eliminate terrorism any more than you could the concept of guerrilla warfare.
Great thoughts Will and Dave, thanks for sharing as always. Not a lot of comments here but this post got thousands of hits, your words were heard.
Ty