Today's
New York Times has an article that at first blush seems to be one of those standard, periodic updates about Pentagon strategy for fighting terrorism...or islamofacists...or evildoers...whatever we're calling them today. But a teeny tiny detail from the article stood out for me:
One senior Pentagon official involved in writing the strategy said the Defense Department had identified more than 30 new terrorist organizations affiliated with Al Qaeda that had sprung to life since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
How can that be? We've marginalized the terrorists...we've sent them into hiding...they're in their last throes...we're winning the GWOT. At least that's what the administration keeps saying. But perhaps it's like George Bush recently said:
Hindsight alone is not wisdom and second-guessing is not a strategy...
So what kind of second-guessing...check that...strategizing...is going on at the Pentagon?
It's sad to see that it took three years of the quagmire that
is Iraq to realize something this simple:
"The way we conduct operations -- choosing whether, when, where and how -- can affect ideological support for terrorism. Knowledge of indigenous population's cultural and religious sensitivities and understanding of how the enemy uses the U.S. military's actions against us should inform the way the U.S. military operates."
To the Bush administration, these words are just hindsight, while to a thinking human, humane being, they are just common sense. Which probably goes a long way towards explaining why we are in the mess we are in today.
And some more breaking news from the Pentagon braintrust:
Pentagon officials involved in writing the strategy point out that the American military's efforts to aid tsunami victims in southeast Asia and to assist victims of Pakistan's earthquake did more to counter terrorist ideology than any attack mission.
They must have had their top people in on this report...who else could have guessed that helping rather than bombing people endears us to them? Once again, such a realization does not take great wisdom or require 20/20 hindsight, just plain old common sense. Seems simple, eh? Apparently not for everyone:
The senior Pentagon official said the guidance was issued "to integrate a number of conflicting opinions and views about what the military strategy should be."
And what might the conflicting opinions on military strategy look like? A safe guess would be every military action taken by the Bush administration.