Posted on 01/12/2006 12:01:58 AM PST by wardaddy
A senior British officer has criticised the US army for its conduct in Iraq, accusing it of institutional racism, moral righteousness, misplaced optimism, and of being ill-suited to engage in counter-insurgency operations. The blistering critique, by Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who was the second most senior officer responsible for training Iraqi security forces, reflects criticism and frustration voiced by British commanders of American military tactics.
What is startling is the severity of his comments - and the decision by Military Review, a US army magazine, to publish them.
American soldiers, says Brig Aylwin-Foster, were "almost unfailingly courteous and considerate". But he says "at times their cultural insensitivity, almost certainly inadvertent, arguably amounted to institutional racism".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Here's the link for the "Military Review" piece mentioned in the Guardian article:
http://usacac.leavenworth.army.mil/CAC/milreview/download/English/NovDec05/aylwin.pdf
15 seconds.
(from the article)
I can see his thinking here, and he may have had a point- but I haven't seen the bridge-corpse-hanging incident repeated. We must've hit them hard enough to have gotten the point across.
The US Armed Forces aren't there to negotiate. They're there because negotiation failed, and force was required. When you have to put down a vicious dog, you don't fart around with talk and half-measures. You get it done.
We do 'total destruction of the enemy', because it works. It's that simple.
The Ghost of Monty still thinking 'they know best'...
One thing is true we both my country and yours need to look at each others tactics, and to see what does and doesn't work irrespective of national pride.
As a aside from what I have seen and heard about the USMC they are using a mixture of both American and British COIN tactics in dealing with the terrorist/insurgency problem.
I am glad the US army give our men battle IQ instead of "sensitivity" IQ.
This is a divisive attack, but let me fall for it a minute.
As for the Brit military, how many Latino and black officers do they have? N'oug said.
As a "come-on" tactic by insurgents, designed to provoke a disproportionate response
Sounds like a Montgomery Wanna-be.
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| ABOVE: The soldier identified as Lance Corporal Mark Cooley aims a punch at an Iraqi detainee bound from the waist up in blue netting. |
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| ABOVE: L/Cpl Cooley drives a fork lift with an Iraqi tied to the front, his upper body bound in netting. He said he was moving the man "out of the sun". |
LOL lets get the Middle East sorted out then refight the American War of Independence.
While US officers in Iraq criticised their allies for being too reluctant to use force, their strategy was "to kill or capture all terrorists and insurgents: they saw military destruction of the enemy as a strategic goal in its own right". In short, the brigadier says, "the US army has developed over time a singular focus on conventional warfare, of a particularly swift and violent kind".
Well duh...
and this
What he calls a sense of "moral righteousness" contributed to the US response to the killing of four American contractors in Falluja in the spring of 2004. As a "come-on" tactic by insurgents, designed to provoke a disproportionate response, it succeeded, says the brigadier, as US commanders were "set on the total destruction of the enemy".
He calls it moral righteousness and I call it educating the enemy (or eliminating them)...you kill one of us, we kill a hundred of you...
Brigadier huh???? Guess he proves feces do float to the top...
An ally was making a point and giving his views on how American fighting power could be enhanced.
Only an idiot doesn't listen to advice from his best friend. Doesn't mean he has to take it...
Thank you Brigadier Aylwin-Foster, for pointing out a plain fact that so many Americans have difficulty recognizing.
Don't get hung up on the Guardian's bogus title, read the Brigadier's words. I think he is on our side and is trying to help us out.
kinda sounds like penis envy to me.
The US army, he says, is imbued with an unparalleled sense of patriotism, duty, passion and talent. "Yet it seemed weighed down by bureaucracy, a stiflingly hierarchical outlook, a predisposition to offensive operations and a sense that duty required all issues to be confronted head-on."
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