President Barack Obama makes Thanksgiving Day phone calls to U.S. troops from the Oval Office, Nov. 24, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The Decade Of War To Come -- Nick Turse, Al Jazeera
War, in the form of proxies, drones and special ops, has accelerated around the globe under the Obama administration.
New York, NY - "In operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, a failure to recognise, acknowledge and accurately define the operational environment led to a mismatch between forces, capabilities, missions and goals," reads a new draft report by the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
In Decade of War: Enduring Lessons from the Past Decade of Operations, the authors admit to failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and lay out a series of lessons for the future, including more effective efforts aimed at winning hearts and minds, integrating regular troops and special operations forces, coordination with other government agencies, coalition operations, partnering with the forces of host-nations and paying greater attention to the use of proxy forces.
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My Comment: Could not have said it any better .... and what is remarkable about this war/military trend is that there has been no debate or discussion in Congress, the media, academia, and/or anyone else in the defense establishment on where is all of this going.
2 comments:
"Not only have the initial test cases yielded failure, but this new way of war holds great potential for unforeseen entanglements and serial blowback. Starting or fanning bushfire wars on several continents could lead to raging wildfires that spread unpredictably and prove difficult, if not impossible, to quench."
I think it is more of a cultural accepted practice within the American military more than anything else. The early Bush administration was the stepping stone for doing it the 'American way' for when it comes to global stage politics and military intervention. Firm practices were embedded within the military under the Bush Administration which had to be one of the most influential and powerful Administrations America ever had.
You don't just change the rules soon as you get into office. The Bush-era had started more than a few wildfires themselves and they've yet to be put out...
I believe this military trend is a two steps back, one step forward approach. I'm not an American, so I naturally view the Obama Administration and its policies in a completely different light than anyone else living in America.
Drones, spec-op missions, the CIA, all of it is an evolution and an attempt to adapt with an economy that is in a depression and an era of new-found technological marvel that they are utilising more than ever before. Naturally, as it always is the way, these new-found ways tend to make a lot of enemies for whatever reason.
In any case, the American way of doing things on the global stage won't change, it hasn't changed much with the Obama administration, because frankly a new ass-warmer in the Presidents chair is incapable of changing the military culture and politics overnight, it would at least take a lot of chair-shifting with a few rounds of musical chairs thrown into the mix to change America's global stage politics and its military policy on intervention.
Ah, of course. "It'S BUSH'S FAULT!" I hear that for every single critique of The One.
And it's not surprising that the media and Congress aren't discussing it - When was the last time you saw any sort of discussion of Little Kim's policies in North Korea?
That would be double-plus UnGood!
Orion
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