Posted on 10/14/2009 8:59:28 AM PDT by Jbny
The terms counterterrorism and counterinsurgency have become common currency this decade in the wake of September 11, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. To a layman’s ear, they can sound like synonyms, especially because of our habit of labeling all insurgents as terrorists. But to military professionals, they are two very different concepts. Counterterrorism refers to operations employing small numbers of Special Operations “door kickers” and high-tech weapons systems such as Predator drones and cruise missiles. Such operations are designed to capture or kill a small number of “high-value targets.” Counterinsurgency, known as COIN in military argot, is much more ambitious. According to official Army doctrine, COIN refers to “those military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency.” The combined approach typically requires a substantial commitment of ground troops for an extended period of time... READ THE REST AT COMMENTARYMAGAZINE.COM
(Excerpt) Read more at commentarymagazine.com ...
Most devastatingly, make sure the women are educated so they quit taking the abuse from men in that culture.
Someone that can think at the speed of war...in seconds...not weeks...waiting for dozens of politically motivated quislings to opine in.
Amen!
This administration dose not have the WILL TO WIN!
With America becoming a communist nation with King Obama, a Muslim, and his corrupt anti-American machine we will have lost in Afghanistan in the matter of time.
Watch this Frontline piece. It is the most information on Afghanistan you can get.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamaswar/
Ahhhh...'The Community'.
"...McChrystal cites an anecdote involving an “ISAF unit and their partnered Afghan company” that were “participating in a large shura [tribal council] in a previously hostile village.” During the shura, which was attended by “nearly the entire village,” he writes, “two insurgents began firing shots at one of the unit’s observation posts.” The sergeant in charge of the post could have returned fire but he chose not “to over-react and ruin the meeting.”
Phew!! That was close to another statistic!
"...The risk of the counterinsurgency approach—which helps to explain why it has not been adopted in Afghanistan until now or in Iraq until 2007—is that, in the short term, it will result in more casualties for coalition forces."
Thanks for putting our guys lives and asses on the line for the Taliban Obama and McChrystal!!!
Counterinsurgency Memo: You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
“It’s the ROE’s Stupid” fits.
“RULES OF ENGAGEMENT REVISITED’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2346439/posts
“OBAMA’S RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN COSTING OUR TROOPS LIVES”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2335891/posts
“THE RULES MURDERING OUR TROOPS”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2347085/posts
Then there is this:
“No Rush to Escalate (”war kills off great reform movements”)”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2355050/posts
____________________________________________________________
http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/official_texts/Tactical_Directive_090706.pdf
“...I recognize that the carefully controlled and disciplined employment of force entails risks to our troops...”
“...The Taliban cannot militarily defeat us - but we can defeat ourselves...”
This is all that comes to my mind when I read that:
“We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We’ve lost today,” Marine Maj. Kevin Williams, 37, said through his translator to his Afghan counterpart, responding to the latter’s repeated demands for helicopters.
“’We’re pinned down:’ 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2335142/posts
If your going to keep them over there Obama&Co.. NOW, can we PLEASE have some Troop-centered and protecting ROE’s! And give them the equipment and manpower they need to back them up!
Sorry, I do not give a damn about afghanistan or any other stan right now.
I’m busy fighting a war against the overthrow of my country by a f-ing marxist and his cronies.
McChrystal just has not clue about Islam and the culture there.
To our troops detriment.
Speak to any military member who has returned home and they know full well what Islam is. Something is very wrong.
Fox News had a segment this afternoon about Afghanistan.
McChrystal is backing off his “assessment” now. He is saying that there is too much corruption in Afghanistan. That Afghanistan is “too illiterate.” That the threat from Al Qaeda isn’t in Afghanistan anyway, but in Pakistan, and THAT is the Pak military’s problem.
He NOW says that no matter how many troops we have in Afghanistan, we can’t “win.”
It was all for nothing. And of course, it’s Bush’s fault.
LOL we win when we are able to Americanize their women.
Anyone who backed McChyrstal’s original assessment is going to get their butts burned big time.
bam and McChrystal have put their heads together to lose, pull out, blame Bush for Vietnamizing Afhanistan, and make obama look like a bloody genius.
McChrystal never went there to win a war. He went there to make it as unpopular as he could and he did it by sacrificing American Troops, by making almost impossible for them to fight or even defend themselves.
His call for more Troops was as phoney as his pronouncement that the taliban is not a threat to US...even as they attack in the heart of Pakistan, backed by Iran, and are closing in on their nukes.
This will be a political win for obama. And the Conservatives who trusted McChrystal will be chewed to bits.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.