Message from the senior advisor on counter-insurgency in Iraq

Kilcullen:

And yes, there is a risk that home-front political will might collapse just as we are getting things right on the ground. Given some commentators’ overall negativity, one suspects that their efforts may directed to precisely that end. You may not like the President, you may be unhappy about the war. But whose side are you on? The Iraqis trusted us, and this is their fight. They deserve our support.

Comments

[Flagg]

Wow. Makes one wonder if we are not being set up for a 1920's German-style "stabbed in the back by weak politicians" spin to emerge post-conflict.

Or I guess it could be the frustration of a competent commander who believes in his plan, but who has been thrust into the breach too late by myopic Beltway amateurs.

[John Robb]

We are going to get lots of the former. That is a certainty. I have a post teed up on this.

[Michael Tanji]

Would such criticism necessarily be unjustified?

[zenpundit]

Every war will have its spin, not just those that go poorly.

[zenpundit]

BTW thanks for the link!

[Flagg]

MT wrote: "Would such criticism necessarily be unjustified?"

No, not necessarily. What worries me would be an attempt to whitewash the failure of the leadership cadres of the US Armed Forces to address what portion of the blame lies in their sometimes ossified, centralized decision-making processes and how they might have contributed to the failure to implement a situation favorable to US interests in Iraq.

Now - whether such a favorable outcome was EVER possible is also a fantastic debate. But just blaming politicians (who will certainly deserve a severe dose of blame) without reviewing its own failings, the Armed Forces might be missing a great opporunity for meaningful reform and, in a worst case, could add fuel to what is probably going to be a radicalized political environment.

[Michael Tanji]

Agreed. Plenty of blame to go around.

Note the panty-waisted opposition to Casey's appointment to CoS. We send MG Weightman packing but promote a guy who helped fill Weightman's rosters.

It would be a much more interesting if the political discussion within the political discussion were more widespread. Serving officers aren't going to criticize their own, which makes Kilcullen's response all the more refreshing. He's not worried about stars or voting in our elections.

[Fabius Maximus]

I agree strongly with Flagg. While the leaders of our armed forces and intel services might not be able to competently plan or execute a war, they have proved skilled at generating industrial-grade excuses.

This proves that we have solved the long-standing American problem of having a separate cultural of the armed services. Now they are fully integrated, as seen by their embrace of the mantra of the 21st century American: "It's not my fault."

I cry when reading stories of our senior generals, bullied by the Bush Admin politicos. Poor puppies. I just want to hug them and tell them that {deleted by the Editor due to extreme expressions not suitable for children's viewing}.

[Anton Vereshchagin]

"If it wasn't from those politicians in Washington we could have won that war." "We won all the battles but we lost the war?'" Where have we heard those before?

I agree with Fabius and Flagg, this culture of "it's not my fault" has been fully integrated in our armed services. The sad part is, this integration has been going on for some time and it's woven in deep. I can remember this type of behavior going on at the company grade officer and even senior NCO levels almost a decade ago when I was in uniform. The junior enlisted folks had a saying about not trusting anyone above the rank of E-5. Kind of like a saying from an earlier era of "not trusting anyone over 30".