http://www.sandersresearch.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=1274
An Insurgency is Not a War
By Carlton Meyer
Jul/05/2007
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The U.S. Army failed in Vietnam, but didn’t learn much as an institution as blame was shifted to the media and protesters for ending the war too soon. This tactic of blaming the messenger continues today. Millions of Americans have embraced the mindless pursuit of winning in Iraq at any cost, with no clear idea of what they want to win. If U.S. troops in Iraq were offered the chance to fly home tomorrow, over 90% would go home. They have no desire to leave their children fatherless for “democracy in Iraq ” or whatever the current justification for their unwanted presence. Therefore, Americans who truly “support the troops,” want to bring them home now.
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This is an interesting critique. The Dead Old White Guys didn’t want a standing army. Maybe they were on to something. We see that the “generals” always fight the next war with the last war’s tactics. In this case, they haven’t learned about Fourth and Fifth Generation Warfare. (Fourth Generation is a war with insurgents. Fifth is a war with your own people; that is civil insurrection.) An awful lot of people are getting killed in this blunder.
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Reinke Faces Life 
Strictly defined, the fighting in Iraq was never really a “war”. I wouldn’t even dignify it
by comparing it with Viet Nam. It’s curious to see the politicians and generals slowly backing away from it and their president. But I’m not at all impressed. It’s a sad commentary when someone like myself is better informed about insurgencies and tribes than the people who voted for this military aciton. Did they know that casualties increase dramatically in an insurgency vs. a war. Ot that we sent our people off to a country knowing nothing about the inhabitants and how they live or their language. That’s the First requirement. Learning as you go is not a strategy. And you’re right, people are not willing to die for some ill defined imaginery “success”. Thank you
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