May 22, 2009

Ralph Peters: a danger to humanity and himself

The poser does us all a favour by pre-justifying his own obliteration at the hands of any anti-American government operatives who may happen to be reading:

Although it seems unthinkable now, future wars may require censorship, news blackouts and, ultimately, military attacks on the partisan media...

The point of all this is simple: Win. In warfare, nothing else matters. If you cannot win clean, win dirty. But win. Our victories are ultimately in humanity’s interests, while our failures nourish monsters.

I'm only seeing one "monster" here.

Posted by BruceR at 01:25 PM

Today's essential Afstan reading

David Kilcullen gives the most realistic timeline for victory I've seen yet:

As of mid-2008 only about one quarter of Afghanistan was under government control, half was disputed, and the remaining quarter was Taleban-controlled. Should everything go well this year, we will succeed — at best — in stopping the rot, stabilising the country and setting the conditions for progress from next year onwards.

Either way, we can expect at least another year or two of serious combat before we can begin handing over more fully to newly expanded Afghan police and military units; these will become available around 2011 as current schemes to increase their numbers come to fruition. This handover process could take another three to five years, and we may then be in a position, after (say) 2015, to drop back to a mentoring, partnering and overwatch role — a role we may need to maintain for several more years to come.

Don't like the sound of that? Doesn't fit with current Canadian government pledges? As an operations officer counterpart of mine in KAF liked to say, "Suck it up, stringbean."

Posted by BruceR at 09:52 AM