Our Strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Is it working?

COL Gian Gentile, the current Dean of History at the USMA, presents a very interesting case for Counter Insurgency (COIN) doctrine.  COIN is the current method of operation in Iraq and Afghanistan.  GEN Petraeus was the Iraq and Afghanistan commander who is credited with the 'huge success' in turning the corner in Iraq in 2008-09 with the Surge and COIN approach.

The questions he poses is that the success in Iraq was not due to a change in tactics from conventional to
COIN operations- it was due to other external and internal factors unrelated to COIN.  The supposed 'success' in Iraq would have happened without the 'surge' and GEN Petraeus' change in approach (COIN)

However, COL Gentile takes a look at history and COIN to debunk the myth(s) of COIN and its supposed success.  Furthermore, he presents historical evidence from Israel experiences in Lebanon to UK Colonial India to US involvement in Vietnam. 

His thinking will definitely challenge your thinking on Iraq and Afghanistan.  Furthermore, it is somewhat comforting to think that the 'Establishment' would allow someone like him who is opposed to the popular 'COIN' group-think to not only teach, but be the Dean of the department. 

Two articles that are very interesting in COL Gentile and how he has challenged the current 'COIN' thinking in the US Army and Department of Defense as a whole.

http://original.antiwar.com/vlahos/2009/05/06/gian-gentile-exposing-counterfeit-coin/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120753402909694027.html

Stars on the Wall- heros we may never know.

Most of us have seen the entrance and the Stars on the Wall in movies or in the news.  Very few actually get to go inside the Central Intelligence Agency and visit the two museums (CIA Museum and the OSS Museum) and see the smaller 'book' that is below the Stars.  I was fortunate to be able to go and visit the CIA.  This book contains the names, and the un-named.  Heroes we may never know.



The book lists a small number of the men and women who have died protecting us.  Those stars that have no name are men and women who simply did not come home. 

A wife never received signed letter from the President on behalf of 'A Grateful Nation'. 
A son never received the Folded American Flag from the casket of his father.

The families of these men and women never saw their loved one come home.  They only knew that their husband had to go out of town to do some important business.  Never to be seen again.  Never knowing.  Never knowing because knowing would put others in harm's way.  Never knowing because there are 'bad people' in the world'.  Never knowing because 300 million Americans will never know the sacrifice that so few have made. 

On the wall opposite the Star is a large Bible verse that reads:  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free- John 8:32.  Although a theological misapplication, it does show the foundation our Country.  Truth.  It is extremely important to the fabric of our nation.

Not just the ultimate sacrifice of the one who died, but a life-long sacrifice of those who will carry that burden of not knowing.  Never knowing.  A son or daughter who will never know their dad and what he did for our Country.  Someone knows.  A grateful nation knows.

Below is a one such man.  He was the first death in our War on Terror.  A man of honor who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  His Star on the Wall has his name.  Many do not.

Johnny Micheal "Mike" Spann  (click on his name for more information)- a Paramilitary Operations Officer from the Special Activities Division killed during a Taliban prison uprising in November 2001 in Mazer-e-Sharif.  His star, the 79th, was added in 2002.  Officer Spann was posthumously awarded the Intelligence Star for Valor for his actions.