Guest Editorial By Geoff

40,000 Men.....what does it mean?
President Reagan understood both Tactical and Strategic. He stated with much wisdom that "GOOD FENCES MAKE GOOD NEIGHBORS" He also realized that there can be no peace without cannon. I miss that guy.

I only mean to use this as an allegory. Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are apples and oranges. Due to the needs of domestic policy soldiers in Vietnam were rotated home at a faster rate by the year. The main result was the loss of an acclimated soldiery used to the horrid conditions of the jungles and the effective methods of the V.C. Thus green troops and officers would replace blooded troops accustomed to combat conditions and the result would be heavy casualties.. By the time the fresh troops were accustomed to their environment their tours tended to end. Domestic politics and the short sightedness of General Westmoreland locked into the myth of the decisive battle, for his eyes saw not Vietnam, but the Russians in Central Europe.

What is 40,000 men...about 3 divisions including auxiliary and independent combat units. Where are these troops coming from? Are they being transferred from Iraq or are they fresh levies from home? Given our tactical position and the lack of strategic concept, more than likely casualties will spike Veterans from Iraq will be walking into a completely different environment .with preconceived ideas. Fresh troops with no combat experience facing a hackneyed insurgency, plus insane sorties into Pakistan will suffer greatly. We have sacrificed the big picture in exchange for a heavier reliance on technology and to placate the citizenry, and the misunderstanding of the campaign by a lost Joint Chiefs. Over reliance on Drones and Special Forces disregards an elementary military maxim. There must be troops to occupy space. This is a conflict where we must look to the tactics of Mao and General Giap rather than technical manuals. While trying to mollify public fears, we only create more casualties. This cannot be a war of over stretched garrisons and isolated strong points. We are cannibalizing our own troops. If that is the case we might as well resort to the concept of Strategic Hamlets. This caused hatred for the British during the Boer War and fueled the causes of our enemies in Vietnam and Central America.

After repeated assaults against an isolated fire base we withdrew.. Our enemies and those sitting on the fence are watching. There is a method to establishing a secure fire base and that example was at Khe Sanh. After the failure of Operation Typhoon, the attack on Moscow in 1941, the front was a jagged mess and isolated German units, well supplied, fought on despite repeated Soviet attempts to dislodge them. Isolated for a time, until reinforced by airborne forces, our troops held out magnificently against the last gasp of the German army in the west during the Battle of the Bulge.

Sadly some of our tactics remind me of the Italians in 1940. They placed their forts and bases so far apart that they were isolated and incapable of supporting one another. Leaving them as tempting tidbits for hit and run attacks, or an attempt at a full blown assault. We rely so heavily on air power that our planes become ground down by too many sorties, too few aircraft, and the weapons begin to show immense wear and tear.

What General Washington did to the British and what the V.C. did to us amounts to somewhere between tag and Ringo-Levio. The question begs....what do we really occupy? We support a corrupt useless President who has an army wedded to corruption. We have learned nothing from spending all we did to buck up the regular infantry of A.R.V.N and the K.M.T. Because of the weakness of the central government in Islamabad and the fickleness of the border tribes, our new Ho Chi Minh road has become a death trap. Wedded to roads so narrow and cliffs so steep our by the book tactics have resulted in a disaster. Sadly once again our tactics do not meet certain realities. We do not dig deeply enough into Pakistani politics or the social mores of the tribesmen of both nations. Not everyone wants to be an American and we cannot make decisions based on preconceived notions. The people must decide how they want to be governed. Sadly the ones that suffer the most are the women who are no better than slaves.

We must accept we cannot occupy the entire nation. It is ruled by a conglomeration of clans and opium warlords. They are only our friends when it suits them. Armies who tend to enter the bad lands of Pakistan and Afghanistan tend not to return.We have thus far been the most successful , because we are not conquerors . The disconnect between Tactical and over all Strategic needs are as distant as both banks of the Missouri River. Our main enemies are at this point are a noxious stew of varying cells. The propaganda of our victories using Drones and Special forces, which have done a great job, cover up the failures of senior commanders to seek the advice of field commanders. Our Leaders in Washington have become map top Generals and the C.I.A. again needs to be over hauled. I have great respect for our Commander, but he to is relying on the failed tactic of reinforcements to makeup for poor decision making. I still ask....What are those troops to do? Endless search and destroy missions? Replacements for thinned out units? I wish I knew.

I give a warning.....

1. 40,000 men will not improve conditions on the ground. The situation is very different than Iraq. the people are different and the political climate as fragile as it is..
2. Vice President Biden's wanting to rely on Special Forces and Drones to hunt terrorists will be in the end self defeating. It is a 21st century version of what J.F.K wanted to do in Vietnam. It will be viewed as weakness and we will be fighting shadows while the real problems escalate. We will end up making empty treaties which we know will never be kept. Our populace will be comforted in the notion that our troops are home, but to their consternation, will see the world has gotten worse.
3. President Obama is already sinking into his mental morass. If it does not fit into my world view....than the world has to change. He runs to Copenhagen, is embarrassed again, trying to payoff Mayor Daley's machine and gives a Commander 25 minutes to discuss a conflict vital to our interests. The Russians and Chinese must be smiling, for they are both fighting Muslim insurgencies. He is even retreating on his troop pledge.. He is a failure who would prefer a League of Nation solution. He seeks to make the Afghans into the 21st century Czechs.....he already did it on missile defense. Although, no one knows if those interceptors even work. .