Marine Capt. Mark Trouerbach, left, and United States Army soldiers heard insurgents’ fire in Nuristan Province on Oct. 24. Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesFrom The New York Times:
In his second “A Soldier Writes” column, Capt. Tim Hsia considers the United States military campaign in Afghanistan against the historical backdrop of Britain and Russia’s experiences there. In today’s New York Times, Eric Schmitt and Scott Shane look at the divided opinions among counterterrorism experts on whether the United States needs a growing ground force in Afghanistan to prevent another major attack on American soil.
United States military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have often been criticized for ignoring the lessons of history. It is frequently commented that the United States is following a well-traveled deadly course that Alexander the Great, the British and the Soviet Union have paved. While there are important lessons to be learned from history, it seems the frequent use of historical analogy occasionally leads into a different kind of trap. As a history instructor of mine at West Point was fond of saying, “history does not repeat itself, historians do.”
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My Comment: I find that the milblogs have been far more effective in examining and analyzing history lessons and counterinsurgency than the New York Times.
Having said that, this article is still a must read .... even though the New York Times is a year late in examining this issue.