My problem with this article is that the author doesn't define the criteria for "winning". What does winning look like in Iraq or Afghanistan?
I generally don't understand what the point of this article is. The US should learn the language of the countries where its soldiers are operating? I can't think of very many armies that have ever done that. Historically it would be the very rare case. And we should we willing to tolerate more bloodshed? The argument seems to be that if we aren't willing to needlessly sacrifice the lives of our soldiers as cannon fodder, then the conflict isn't worth being involved in. I don't think that makes a lot of sense, either.
There are some very flawed premises here. I think the bottom line is that the US military is still the envy of the world. Recent conflicts have been poorly planned in terms of goals and exit strategies, but it's a bit disingenuous to imply that the armed services aren't able to meet military objectives or face threats of all kinds at any point on the globe. There have to be better ways for the author to say "I don't like recent US military actions".
I generally don't understand what the point of this article is. The US should learn the language of the countries where its soldiers are operating? I can't think of very many armies that have ever done that. Historically it would be the very rare case. And we should we willing to tolerate more bloodshed? The argument seems to be that if we aren't willing to needlessly sacrifice the lives of our soldiers as cannon fodder, then the conflict isn't worth being involved in. I don't think that makes a lot of sense, either.
There are some very flawed premises here. I think the bottom line is that the US military is still the envy of the world. Recent conflicts have been poorly planned in terms of goals and exit strategies, but it's a bit disingenuous to imply that the armed services aren't able to meet military objectives or face threats of all kinds at any point on the globe. There have to be better ways for the author to say "I don't like recent US military actions".