Reply #3: Arrogant chickenhawks all thought they had learned the lesson [View All]

[Warpy]

Rumsfeld built a long and lucrative career on redesigning a military that could have won Vietnam by converting it from a massive army dedicated to winning a land war in Europe to a series of light, fast strike forces that could go into a region at a moment's notice, kill whomever the enemy was at the time, and get out.

The lesson of Iraq is that this won't work, either.

The true lesson of both Vietnam and Iraq is that getting involved in a war of occupation in a country that doesn't want us there should be avoided at all costs. The lesson of Vietnam is that propping up a vestigial colonial government against the will of the people is a losing proposition. The lesson of Iraq is that creating a power vacuum by deposing an unpopular leader is also a losing proposition.

Let's hope all these lessons are learned this time and that ideologues within the Pentagon have lied us into our last catastrophic war, ever.

If we redesign our military, it should be to redesign them as a truly defensive force.