Comments on: Kinder, Gentler Warfare

By: Curtis

Curtis — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:40:51 +0000

As I see it the problem in Afghanistan is not neutrals or fence sitters since all of them support the Taleban. I know who beats the Soviets for pure brutality and that would be the folks that carried out the Beslan school massacre. Those butchers planned to kill a thousand school kids and just about did.

US troops pass out of arty coverage when the US concedes the “moral” ground and the battlefield to the enemy and pretends that we are there winning the hearts and minds of the enemy. I knew a well educated, erudite first generation Pakistani Coast Guard officer that planned to take his American raised daughters back to Pakistan and wed them to his cousins when they were of age (15). If you don’t understand your enemy you end up conceding the fight.

I’m curious, how many of us doubt that the war against Terror is synonymous with a war against Islam?

By: CG

CG — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:59:40 +0000

Just yesterday some guy on some blog (sorry, I can’t remember where) was saying the GPS-guided Excalibur 155 round was a big waste of money, and that CAS could handle everything.

I know from what you guys have said that this was more a command screw-up and not a technological one, but it seems like this is exactly the situation Excalibur was made for. It’s supposed to have less than 10 meter CEP. Then again, the arty probably wasn’t using the Paladins or M777A2s that can fire it. Maybe they didn’t have the capability.

I don’t know. I just think of those guys calling for fire and not getting it and it makes me feel sick.

By: G-man

G-man — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:09:35 +0000

You know if you replace USMC with “NYC fire dept” or “NYC police dept” you would have a major investigation about how some chief let his fire or police battalion down by failing to send in requested back-up/support. Why is this any different? “We didn’t send in additional police support for the officers engaged as we didn’t want to risk any civilian injuries” would surely result in a thorough house-cleaning.

I’m with AW1 – you want to confront the one responsible for the lack of back-bone when they return. Any loss is hard to take, ones that could be prevented like these are nothing short of a court-martial offense. I’d hate to be the one handing over the folded flag with “on behalf of a grateful nation …” on my lips.

By: virgil xenophon

virgil xenophon — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:02:59 +0000

Yabitt the Soviets handed out pain pretty much indiscriminately, IIRC, Lex. I’m suggesting that “controlled pain” be applied to the Taliban only, NOT non-Taliban warlords/Tribsmen. This is NOT beyond the ken of man to accomplish. But in truth we will never solve the WHAM problem no matter how many children we inoculate, bridges, schoolhouses we build or irrigation ditches we dig. With SAFE areas like Pakistan to retreat to for R &R the Taliban can return at their leisure to overwhelm the locals and destroy all the WHAM-type “good works” accomplished to date, sowing doubt about both our ability and resolve to provide security. It’s MY belief that truly successful COIN ops are IMPOSSIBLE as long as adj SAFE areas exist. It was the problem in Algeria, Vietnam and now in Afghanistan. That’s why we should pick and chose among the tribes and give/bribe them the money and arms. THEY can out-wait the Taliban forever because they aren’t going anywhere either–and out-fight ‘em if we ply them with enough arms and money as they are the Talibans natural rivals–with us hovering over the horizon with air-support as/if needed in initial stages. Sort of like what was working in the end in Vietnam on a larger, more conventional-warfare scale until Congress pulled the logistics plug.

By: xformed

xformed — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:56:05 +0000

In “Strategy for Defeat” By ADM Sharp, his contention was we lost (and the Vietnamese lost) many more people because the “doves” wanted a kinder, gentler war, where the “hawks” wanted to just mine Haiphong and cut off the war material from the Soviet Union, ending the bloodshed. His evidence? When we did finally do it, they were at the table in a very, very short time…as they knew we had them by the short hairs.

OTOH, the North Vietnamese, as radical as they were, actually had some desire to live to reunite their nation. While they didn’t want us meddling in their affairs, they just didn’t want us meddling in their affairs. AQ…well, until were subjugated or dead, this crew will still have a bone to pick….

By: Vigilis

Vigilis — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:45:15 +0000

Lex, thanks for informing us about “the death of four Marines in eastern Afghanistan after their commanders reportedly rejected requests for artillery fire in a battle with insurgents”.

Since the Pentagon seems to have confirmed this outrageous news, and Marines do not show such little regard for each other, the impetus for this outrageous decision could only have come from the newly chastened, emboldened, and insidiously imbedded source Americans have yet to deal with fully – the @&#$ J.A.G.s.

Please prove me wrong, anybody!