When did the operation happen? Under Obama or under Trump?
Better if not taken prisoner at all.
Killed on sight.
Empowered by Obama/Biden, dispatched by Donald J Trump
Some cultures are successful.
Some cultures are failures.
Some cultures are violent feral animals unable to live in civilized society.
I went back in my brain housing group on the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, and settled on three major flaws we made:
1. Strategic. The US failed to re-shape the world in a strategic shaping operation; in that all future trade, treaties, economic deference, military support and diplomatic dealings with the US would be predicated on each country’s national policy and execution to liquidate Wahhab/Salafist Islam with prejudice. As divorce lawyers say, “That is non-negotiable” and that means a new global leadership block would be formed (not the UN). Bush had all the political capital and global sympathy he needed.
2. Operational. COIN 101— the population must do the heavy lifting and weed out the insurgents. The Marine Corps wrote the book on COIN, and we ignored it. The population MUST isolate those that will not pursue or have interest in peace due to their adherence to Salafism, or other cultural constructs preventing peace (Haqqanis in Afghanistan). That means, the populations must be given the incentives to do so— by engaging the religious beliefs themselves. We utterly failed in this psyop.
3. Tactical. Artillery must be brought in range of the enemy, under an ROE reflecting adherents are not innocent civilians. We finally learned this lesson when Trump pushed for a decisive engagement against ISIS in Raqqa IZ. It was reduced to rubble after the M777 howitzers were brought to bear, courtesy of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (the attached guns were from 1st Battalion, 10th Marines). No expensive smart bombs. Cheap high-explosive, and lots of it. It was a magnificent logistical operation that kept those guns fed, 24/7.