A Jingle air helicopter delivers supplies to U.S. Army soldiers to a mountain during Operation Champion Spear outside the village of Marsac in Paktia province, Afghanistan, Sept. 5, 2009. The soldiers are assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Christopher NicholasPowerful And Insightful New Articles By Macgregor -- Fabius Maximus
“Illusions of Victory – There’s No Strategy To Win in Afghanistan“, Douglas MacGregor (Colonel, US Army, retired), Defense News, 28 September 2009 — I recommend reading it in full. Excerpt:
Douglas MacArthur is regarded as a great commander because he got some very important things right, most famously the Inchon landing. He also got some things wrong, such as his push to the Yalu River.
His catchy statement, “there is no substitute for victory,” was also wrong, though not so wrong as the armchair strategists who quote it out of context. In fact, “victory” is often an illusion, a will-o’-the-wisp that can lead nations and armies deeper into the bog of history until they disappear.
Read more ....
My Comment: The phrase that caught my eye was the following ....
Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan had the foresight to avoid the bog, to halt inconclusive military operations in Korea and Lebanon before they consumed America’s strength. Such men are rare, and even more rarely honored for their actions.
Kudos to MacGregor for pointing this out.
In the 1980s I always defended Ronald Reagan's decision to leave Lebanon when everyone else (Democrats and Republicans, Israel and our Arab allies) were telling us that we should stay. Douglas MacGregor's comments are dead on .... why stay in a conflict zone when the people there have not resolved their differences in the past few centuries. Why stay bogged down in a conflict that will only sap our resources and attention when there are "bigger fish" that are in our national interest to go after.
Kudos to Fabius Maximus for finding this article. You may agree with it or not .... but it will make you think.