Americ Must Rethink How It Fight Its Wars

Hamburger Hill in 1969. Photo via Flickr

Arnold Isaacs, War Is Boring: Why Can’t the World’s Best Military Win Its Wars?

Americans need to rethink armed conflict.

“This time, they think they have it right.”

So declared an Associated Press story reporting an upbeat assessment by this country’s top military officer at the end of a five-day visit to Afghanistan earlier this spring. Marine general Joseph Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was heading home from the war zone, the A.P. reporter wrote, “with a palpable sense of optimism” about the U.S.-supported war against Taliban and Islamic State fighters there.

Light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps?

The story didn’t say whether any of the reporters listening to Dunford asked why it had taken more than 16 years for the world’s leading military power to come up with the “fundamentally different approach” that the general believes has put U.S. and Afghan forces on the path to success.

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WNU Editor: One of the best analysis that I have read in a long time on why America is not able to win the wars it is fighting. There are no surprises in the above commentary .... everyone does have a basic understanding on why U.S. war policy has failed. But this is a well written post, and it makes it a must read.