Hang Right Politics

Posted by Republicanpundit on January 15th, 2007 in Opinion, Middle East, Our Military, Our Heroes

My friend Herschel smith over at Captainsquartes has a Great Post here about Gen. Petraeus.

Excerpt:

A key lesson General Petraeus draws from Vietnam, compared to Malaya, is that the US Army is historically unprepared to fight insurgencies. The American military has overwhelming force for conventional combat but, without the British experience of empire, is intellectually unequipped to deal with the subtleties of guerrilla war.

The British, with their colonial history, are far better at combining local diplomacy with military force, a model General Petraeus wants to emulate.

Under his command, US forces can be expected to take up positions in Baghdad neighbourhoods, instead of limiting themselves to raids from large, fortified bases. Units will set up street patrols and strive to involve local religious and political leaders in reconstruction and employment projects, heavily funded from Washington.

General Petraeus, Commander of the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq in 2003, is largely credited with being one of the only US officers who succeeded in bringing order to his region of Iraq by establishing a British colonial model of civil-military interaction.

Interesting take on what has to happen. I certainly agree that we are not prepared to fight insurgents, while the British are better. Let’s learn from them.