Metrics help guide Pentagon

Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, April 5, 2005 | By Rowan Scarborough

[JohnHuang2]

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The Pentagon is judging success or failure in Iraq by more than daily casualty and attack statistics. It recently set up an "Iraq Room" where officers study and measure a long stream of data, to produce what the Pentagon calls "metrics" that tell Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld whether the Iraq campaign is headed in the right direction. "The secretary is big on metrics," said a senior Pentagon official. "He's a metrics kind of guy. He believes you cannot tell how you are doing unless you are taking measurements."

[flying Elvis]

While I admire Rumsfeld I'm not a big fan of this kind of mentality. One cannot reduce warfare to formulas unless it is a simple ratio of dead and surrendered enemies to live enemies. That is the only true measure of success. I dare say the pounding of Fallujah intimidated more potential enemies and won more hearts and minds than any sewer or water project. It didn't make anyone love us, but it certainly made more than a few respect us.

[John Locke]

In war there is no substitute for victory.

General Douglas MacArthur, April 19, 1951.

[em2vn]

He's another version of Robt.Strange McNamara.To him a war can be run like a business rather than realizing that a war is a war.
I wonder how he plans to stem the tide of invasion in the American Southwest?"...illegals are just taking jobs Americans won't do". Sorry, I forgot this slur came from the President not Rummy.

[Explodo]

While I understand your sentiment in dealing with reducing warfare to simple formulas, I would strongly disagree with not using available data to determine what tactics worked and what didn't. Measurements are the best way IMO to find activities that were more effective than others. If I can figure out a way to pound fallujah while not exposing my troops to unnecessary danger, I'm going to do it. The Numbers Weenies are your best bet in this vein of thought. Why not use a resource that Americans are really good at. We can crunch numbers with the best.