General who held command in the middle east tells us "The Truth About the Wars"

First of all some background on who's saying this...

Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger retired in 2013 from the Army. During his 35 years of service, he earned five Bronze Star Medal (one for valor) and the Combat Action Badge. His notable military commands included serving as Commanding General of the Combined Security Transition Command in Afghanistan and Commander of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (2011-2013); Commanding General of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas (deployed to Baghdad, 2009-2010); the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team in Iraq (2005-06); and U.S. Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WARS

As a senior commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, I lost 80 soldiers. Despite their sacrifices, and those of thousands more, all we have to show for it are two failed wars. This fact eats at me every day, and Veterans Day is tougher than most.

As veterans, we tell ourselves it was all worth it. The grim butchery of war hovers out of sight and out of mind, an unwelcome guest at the dignified ceremonies. Instead, we talk of devotion to duty and noble sacrifice. We salute the soldiers at Omaha Beach, the sailors at Leyte Gulf, the airmen in the skies over Berlin and the Marines at the Chosin Reservoir, and we’re not wrong to do so. The military thrives on tales of valor. In our volunteer armed forces, such stirring examples keep bringing young men and women through the recruiters’ door. As we used to say in the First Cavalry Division, they want to “live the legend.” In the military, we love our legends.

Here’s a legend that’s going around these days. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq and toppled a dictator. We botched the follow-through, and a vicious insurgency erupted. Four years later, we surged in fresh troops, adopted improved counterinsurgency tactics and won the war. And then dithering American politicians squandered the gains. It’s a compelling story. But it’s just that — a story.

The surge in Iraq did not “win” anything. It bought time. It allowed us to kill some more bad guys and feel better about ourselves. But in the end, shackled to a corrupt, sectarian government in Baghdad and hobbled by our fellow Americans’ unwillingness to commit to a fight lasting decades, the surge just forestalled today’s stalemate. Like a handful of aspirin gobbled by a fevered patient, the surge cooled the symptoms. But the underlying disease didn’t go away. The remnants of Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Sunni insurgents we battled for more than eight years simply re-emerged this year as the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

The surge legend is soothing, especially for military commanders like me. We can convince ourselves that we did our part, and a few more diplomats or civilian leaders should have done theirs. Similar myths no doubt comforted Americans who fought under the command of Robert E. Lee in the Civil War or William C. Westmoreland in Vietnam. But as a three-star general who spent four years trying to win this thing — and failing — I now know better.

We did not understand the enemy, a guerrilla network embedded in a quarrelsome, suspicious civilian population. We didn’t understand our own forces, which are built for rapid, decisive conventional operations, not lingering, ill-defined counterinsurgencies. We’re made for Desert Storm, not Vietnam. As a general, I got it wrong. Like my peers, I argued to stay the course, to persist and persist, to “clear/hold/build” even as the “hold” stage stretched for months, and then years, with decades beckoning. We backed ourselves season by season into a long-term counterinsurgency in Iraq, then compounded it by doing likewise in Afghanistan. The American people had never signed up for that.

What went wrong in Iraq and in Afghanistan isn’t the stuff of legend. It won’t bring people into the recruiting office, or make for good speeches on Veterans Day. Reserve those honors for the brave men and women who bear the burdens of combat.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/opinion/the-truth-about-the-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan.html?_r=0

Poor decisions got a generation of our boys killed and maimed over there.

And now we're half-heartedly building up to additional conflicts. It seems we aren't smart enough to learn from our mistakes.

IS isn't going to lay down because we dropped some precision bombs on them.

Eric wrote:

Poor decisions got a generation of our boys killed and maimed over there.

And now we're half-heartedly building up to additional conflicts.  It seems we aren't smart enough to learn from our mistakes.

IS isn't going to lay down because we dropped some precision bombs on them.

    And Friday another 1500 Troops are being deployed to Iraq.....Don't like the idea that it appears we are once again going at it alone [ground troops]... Once again as you've pointed out the cowh was forewarned that air strikes alone would not be the solution... Remember....."No boots on the ground"....

After years of fighting it's obvious our military is not designed to fight these types of "wars". The weaponry is wrong, too much reliance on air power, not enough specops troops, and too little real time human intelligence because of the shift to elint years ago. With our attention diverted guess who has built up their traditional military? China and Russia.

Now our military has to deal with worn out equipment - particularly aircraft whose life expectancy has been reduced from constant use. Worse than the equipment is the strain on service members and their families, multiple deployments for the ground troops and extended deployments for Navy types. The Navy is hurting too since ships are missing scheduled maintenance due to constant commitments by brain dead politicians.

Then there is the sequestration nightmare - again caused by brain dead politicians.

I'm glad I retired from the military when I did and I would NEVER recommend anyone join in this political climate.

I agree 100% about NOT joining now.. It's gone from people doing their jobs first to kissing butts and DOCUMENTING training 2 different ways on 20 different things every year...... Once in a while, the computers MIGHT work properly...

nochain wrote:

After years of fighting it's obvious our military is not designed to fight these types of "wars". The weaponry is wrong, too much reliance on air power, not enough specops troops, and too little real time human intelligence because of the shift to elint years ago. With our attention diverted guess who has built up their traditional military? China and Russia.

Now our military has to deal with worn out equipment - particularly aircraft whose life expectancy has been reduced from constant use. Worse than the equipment is the strain on service members and their families, multiple deployments for the ground troops and extended deployments for Navy types. The Navy is hurting too since ships are missing scheduled maintenance due to constant commitments by brain dead politicians.

Then there is the sequestration nightmare - again caused by brain dead politicians.

I'm glad I retired from the military when I did and I would NEVER recommend anyone join in this political climate.

What you've posted about the equipment etc.,....another time that history has repeated itself and is now looking like the Carter years all over again...