National Review Dumbs Down

The Corner

That generals--and Pentagon officials--plan to fight the last war, rather than the next war, is hardly a new and surprising phenomenon.

I would argue that one of the principal--but unspoken--reasons we need to remain in Iraq now is simply to learn how to fight this kind of war, a 21st century war, a post-modern war

One would assume that Mr. May should be forgiven for assuming that our enemies in the next war will fight the same way as our enemies during the occupation. He may even be forgiven for believing that our enemies have fought the same way in every battle in Iraq. The Iraqi army fought differently when it was being destroyed by our air power and armor than when Iraqi insurgents lay roadside bombs, which is again different from the strategy of suicide bombers.

However, to assume that all future wars will look like the Iraqi insurgency is to assume that nobody thought a war like this could happen. BUT...

Special Forces and even the Marines have long been regarded like cross-eyed step children.

The Marines use some of the stupidest strategies ever devised, scaled-down human wave assaults. The Special Forces were actually created with situations like this in mind. The Green Berets were created to train locals how to fight our common enemies during the Vietnam war. Now they're helping with training the Iraqi army. So strategies and tactics developed to fight a guerilla war against local insurgents backed by large numbers of foreign infiltrators in South Vietnam work in a guerilla war against local insurgents backed by large numbers of foreign infiltrators in Iraq.
They could at least stop pretending that it's thinking outside the box to bring back strategies and tactics from the Vietnam war. I think the reason they're unwilling to admit the Vietnam analogy is an unwillingness to accept responsibility for the inevitable drop-off of public support here despite visible gains over there.

Goe, thinks they need a new plan.