We have heard nothing but how asymmetric this war is, how shape...

[bridgit]

shifting, multi-layer & interchangeable this war and enemy are both...then why are we endeavoring, why are we having to endure vietnam style air cav operations? Why are we still playing Jolly Green Giant, to an enemy prone to being blown on the wind like a handful of wheat husks?

'Indeed, crossing the deadly zone became the tactical problem of the day, and military theorists in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States spared no effort in attempting to solve it. If this problem remained unsolved, decisive victory would vanish from the military lexicon and warfare would become nothing more than an exercise in attrition. Such an outcome represented either a failure of arms or an absence of military genius, each equally unacceptable to the military professional. Proposed solutions to the crisis assumed many forms. Fundamentally, however, military theorists believed that achieving fire superiority at the decisive point would allow the attacker to overwhelm the defender and restore mobility to the battlefield.'

This from a piece published published circa-the-year Rumsfeld, Kristol, et al; implored Clinton to attack Iraq and receive their full backing,

http://cpof.ida.org/PARAMETERS,%20US%20Army%20War%20College%20Quarterly%20-%20Autumn%201998.htm

Has their downfall; Is their downfall, their inability to understand, a form of a high functioning adult ADD? A form a literate, functional illiteracy? Or is it a simple by-product of hegemonic hubris, and braggadocio?

Cause these guys still do not even understand the language & essential customs of the enemy they ignore first & foremost.

They, in the end, do not even understand us, the American people.

[leveymg]

1. Don't fight wars you can't win. That's the lesson of Vietnam.

The reason Gulf War I was won was because it had limited objectives: clear the Iraqi Army out of Kuwait, and go home. You can't clear the Iraqis out of Iraq, however. Even less so, can we remove the population of Iran.

So, the lesson of Vietnam and Iraq is this:
don't go to war with Iran, unless you want to lose again.

I really think the Generals and intelligence chiefs have understood that quite well since the Spring of 2004. U.S. national security is better served by regime change in Washington than in Tehran -- the former objective is also far more realizable.

Thus, at that time, as the Abu Ghraib photos were released by military intelligence, the Joint Chiefs and CIA told their IG's to seek prosecution for Plamegate and the Franklin OSP-AIPAC spy cases. Call it a constitutional coup, if you will, but after that, the brass clearly is not going to start another preemptive war with Iran.

[bridgit]

2. My hope is that someone back there is learning something from these...

contemporaneous displays of high dollar, power pointed think-ology gone ker-plunk on the world stage. So many words, so little time to read them all.

'Let's just throw something sticky up against someone else's wall and see what happens' is hardly a war plan.

[leveymg]

3. Isn't that Mike Ledeen's strategy? Why isn't he in jail?

I'm afraid those doing the learning are going to make a real mess of a lot more Abrams. And, frankly, we have nothing better to throw at them next time.

So, like the Brits, as their Empire wained, we can no longer rely on brute force and ignorance. Seems to me recruiting practices have to change first. But, the ground may be rushing up too fast for institutional change.

[bridgit]

4. Only wish I could say for sure, but they should assist his wife to that...

end as well; they've been making a grand couple wedded for the glory of scatter & chaos in the lives of others now for some time...but Ledeen? You got it. His thoughts need be extricated from the American Mind; like an intellectual tapeworm, he needs be-gone.

[leveymg]

5. Barbara is definitely a watercarrier, but not in Mike's league.

The best summary of Bab's career I could find in a few minutes was the following well down in a string at Washington Monthly. The subject was Kevin Drum discussing Ledeen's peculiar relationship with Ahmed Chalabi, and charges that Ahmed had shared info with his contacts in Iran that the CIA had broken Tehran's diplomatic code. Any idea why Ahmed was let out of house arrest? Does Ledeen hold a stack of Get Out of Jail Free cards?

Interesting info on Barbara here:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_05/003996.php

[bridgit]

6. True, someone has to sit with the children and sing b-i-n-g-o...

while my further understanding is that she is no shrinking violet, her greater foible may be in enabling Ledeen to be Ledeen without tether...which could, I suppose, be seen as a goode wife's proper task on earth. Still, what a waste...

Thanks for the link, i'll check through it; and I do agree = the Ledeen's are a significantly & disproportionately un-tasked married couple in the midst of all these nefarious doings.