FL & Thread,
So what are Bill Kristol's military credentials? I'd rather listen to Hack and the people he admires.
From Col. David Hackworth's (A warrior's warrior, all the way!) web page sftt.org
<<This is an important read. Please give it max circulation. Try to get this document in the hands of the policy and decision makers.
Knowing your enemy is the most important key to war. This letter was written by a very bright and Afghanistan street-smart West Point grad to his classmates. He knows the terrain, the enemy and the weather in Afghanistan from being there. Not from books.
BURN HIS WORDS AND ADVICE INTO YOUR BRAINS.
WE'LL WIN, IF WE ALL HANG IN THERE UNTIL IT'S OVER OVER THERE.
HACK >>
Read the whole letter at sftt.org
By Richard Kidd, U.S. Army, West Point
[SNIP]
<< I have been asked how I would fight the war. This is a big question and well beyond my pay grade or expertise. And while I do not want to second guess current plans or start an academic debate I would share the following from what I know about Afghanistan and the Afghans.
First, I would give the Northern Alliance a big wad of cash so that they can buy off a chunk of the Taliban army before winter.
Second, also with this cash I would pay some guys to kill some of the Taliban leadership making it look like an inside job to spread distrust and build on existing discord.
Third, I would support the Northern alliance with military assets, but not take it over or adopt so high a profile as to undermine its legitimacy in the eyes of most Afghans.
Fourth, would be to give massive amounts of humanitarian aid and assistance to the Afghans in Pakistan in order to demonstrate our goodwill and to give these guys a reason to live rather than the choice between dying of starvation or dying fighting the "infidel."
Fifth, start a series of public works projects in areas of the country not under Taliban control (these are much more than the press reports) again to demonstrate goodwill and that improvements come with peace.
Sixth, I would consider vary carefully putting any female service members into Afghanistan proper-sorry to the females of our class but within that culture a man who allows a women to fight for him has zero respect, and we will need respect to gain the cooperation of Afghan allies. No Afghan will work with a man who fights with women.
I would hold off from doing anything too dramatic in the new term, keeping a low level of covert action and pressure up over the winter, allowing this pressure to force open the fissions around the Taliban that were already developing. I expect that they will quickly turn on themselves and on OBL. We can pick up the pieces next summer, or the summer after. When we do "pick-up" the pieces I would make sure that we do so on the ground, "man to man."
While I would never want to advocate American causalities, it is essential that we communicate to OBL and all others watching that we can and will "engage and destroy the enemy in close combat."
As mentioned above, we should not try to gain or hold terrain, but Infantry operations against the enemy are essential. There can be no excuses after the defeat or lingering doubts in the minds of our enemies regarding American resolve and nothing, nothing will communicate this except for ground combat. And once this is all over, unlike in 1989 the US must provide continued long-term economic assistance to rebuild the country. >>
Jerry in Omaha |
