Winning still matters, etc...

[James A. Donald]

     --
John Young wrote:
 > There is a decreasing chance the US can apply its military might to
 > defeat an unconventional enemy. That kind of enemy is not what
 > long-standing military strategy and most tactics are aimed at.
 > Rumsfeld was hoping to revise that when yet one more mighty military
 > war appeared to head off changing military policy.

The US never intended to use its military might to defeat an
unconventional enemy.

It intended to use its military might in the entirely conventional way
to destroy or deter governments that foster terrorism, as was
accomplished very successfully in Afghanistan.

Regime change in Iraq was supposed to deter Syria and Iran, but they
have not in fact been deterred.  Saudi Arabia and Libya have been
deterred.  Indonesia has changed its policy on terror, but it is
unclear whether this was the result of the spectacle of Saddam and his
bullet ridden sons or honest soul searching.

     --digsig
          James A. Donald
      6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG
      nVs3V7urdcH8GOjfhlNYzb0/JWqCDKupA3RE8WE3
      4YdwLgC/LWPMsXcHeSFlqJW/NrcK/eDjuprNNcJok