|
|
|
Strategypage has as post on if we really lost Vietnam and the lessons and tactics that are coming from the War in Iraq.
It’s difficult to determine who is winning the war on terror, partly because we still don’t agree who won wars and battles in the past. Take Vietnam. The U.S. didn’t lose the war. When American forces withdrew in 1972, the South Vietnamese government was still in power. The north eventually won, not via a guerilla war (American and South Vietnamese efforts had destroyed the guerilla force in the south) but via an invasion with conventional forces (including lots of tanks), right across the border. The north tried it first in 1972, right after U.S. troops were just about gone, and failed. So they built up their forces for three years, tried again, and succeeded.[. . .]
We can see this struggle between reality and “conventional wisdom†being played out in Iraq right now. The media needs excitement, and a touch of scandal, to attract eyeballs, and stay in business. As a result, many dramatic events are being buried by what passes for “exciting news†from the combat zone. Examples abound. Casualty rates are at an all time low for this kind of war. While the news spotlights casualties as another sign of failure, the many casualties that should occur, but don’t, get little or no coverage.
Another spectacular change that gets little notice is the extent to which robots and networking are becoming commonplace on the battlefield. This is as dramatic as any of the major innovations developed during World War I. But all this probably won’t get the attention it’s due, by civilians anyway, for another decade or more.
An even less noticed innovation is the application of modern policing and investigation methods to Iraq operations. The troops involved often refer to “CSI: Baghdad,†in recognition of the thorough investigations of enemy attacks and battle scenes. What gets even less attention (and the “geeks with guns†prefer it that way), is the many types of analyses that information is subjected to, and the insights that produces for American commanders. While the terrorists in Iraq are making a mighty effort, they are losing. You wouldn’t know that from reading the news. But someday you will, after you read about it in a history book.