Monday, August 08, 2005
Pundit RhetIraq: Andrew Krepinevich
Who: Andrew Krepinevich (Director of the Center for Strategic Assessments)
Source: Findlaw
Quotes: Article excerpts are from an essay published in the journal for Foreign Affairs
"During the Vietnam War, U.S. strategy focused on killing insurgents at the expense of winning hearts and minds. This search-and-destroy strategy ultimately failed, but it evidently continues to exert a strong pull on the U.S. military," Krepinevich wrote.
"Even when an attack manages to inflict serious insurgent casualties, there is little or no enduring improvement in security once U.S. forces withdraw from the area," wrote Krepinevich, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who wrote a respected critique of the U.S. counterinsurgency effort in Vietnam.
The war has "overextended the U.S. Army and eroded support for the war among the American public," Krepinevich wrote.
The insurgents, meanwhile, are following a simple but effective strategy of fighting to perpetuate disorder and despair until the U.S. forces leave. After which, Krepinevich believes, they will launch a coup against Iraq's "weak, demoralized regime."
Krepinevich said America's effort in Iraq can only be salvaged with a costly turnaround in U.S. military strategy that requires a long-term commitment to withstand the huge expense and higher rates of U.S. combat deaths.
"If U.S. policy-makers and the American public are unwilling to make such a commitment, they should be prepared to scale down their goals in Iraq significantly," Krepinevich wrote.
Krepinevich's strategy involves winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis by focusing spending, rebuilding and law-enforcement efforts on peaceful areas in Iraq - the largely Shiite Muslim south and Kurdish north.
Krepinevich said the plan would take "at least a decade" to carry out, and cost "hundreds of billions of dollars and will result in longer U.S. casualty rolls."
"But this is the price that the United States must pay if it is to achieve its worthy goals in Iraq," he wrote.
If Americans aren't up to the task, Krepinevich said Washington would have to "leverage its waning influence to outmaneuver the Iranians and Syrians in creating an ally out of Iraq's next despot."
Source: Findlaw
Quotes: Article excerpts are from an essay published in the journal for Foreign Affairs
"During the Vietnam War, U.S. strategy focused on killing insurgents at the expense of winning hearts and minds. This search-and-destroy strategy ultimately failed, but it evidently continues to exert a strong pull on the U.S. military," Krepinevich wrote.
"Even when an attack manages to inflict serious insurgent casualties, there is little or no enduring improvement in security once U.S. forces withdraw from the area," wrote Krepinevich, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who wrote a respected critique of the U.S. counterinsurgency effort in Vietnam.
The war has "overextended the U.S. Army and eroded support for the war among the American public," Krepinevich wrote.
The insurgents, meanwhile, are following a simple but effective strategy of fighting to perpetuate disorder and despair until the U.S. forces leave. After which, Krepinevich believes, they will launch a coup against Iraq's "weak, demoralized regime."
Krepinevich said America's effort in Iraq can only be salvaged with a costly turnaround in U.S. military strategy that requires a long-term commitment to withstand the huge expense and higher rates of U.S. combat deaths.
"If U.S. policy-makers and the American public are unwilling to make such a commitment, they should be prepared to scale down their goals in Iraq significantly," Krepinevich wrote.
Krepinevich's strategy involves winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis by focusing spending, rebuilding and law-enforcement efforts on peaceful areas in Iraq - the largely Shiite Muslim south and Kurdish north.
Krepinevich said the plan would take "at least a decade" to carry out, and cost "hundreds of billions of dollars and will result in longer U.S. casualty rolls."
"But this is the price that the United States must pay if it is to achieve its worthy goals in Iraq," he wrote.
If Americans aren't up to the task, Krepinevich said Washington would have to "leverage its waning influence to outmaneuver the Iranians and Syrians in creating an ally out of Iraq's next despot."
