Posted on 10/21/2005 6:02:03 PM PDT by Valin
The Good Key lessons from midlevel U.S. officers about how to address global threats.
The Bad The author's assertions about a United States empire are misconceived.
The Bottom Line Dispatches from far-flung places offer hope for the long run.
At the turn of the 21st century, Army Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Parker Wilhelm turned down a plum Pentagon posting for a job in the boondocks. The fluent Russian speaker had decided that he could make more of a difference as a military attaché in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar than on the Potomac -- and he was probably right. When Wilhelm arrived there in 2001, he found that the country was attempting to acquire an air force, even though it had neither a clear purpose for such a unit nor the expertise to maintain it. So, with the cooperation of the U.S. ambassador, Wilhelm persuaded the country's military to pursue a different course: secure Mongolia's borders not against a Chinese military invasion, which would be impossible, but against migration from that country and infiltration by Central Asian terrorists; improve its ability to respond to natural disasters; and train peacekeeping forces, which would raise the country's profile and provide diplomatic protection from Russia and China. Informally, Wilhelm was having more of a local-policy impact than any Pentagon bigwig.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
The premise of the book is flawed, but it makes a valuable contribution to the debate.
That would be like me asking Tom Delay, "Let's assume you're a wife beater, rapist, and sexual predator. Should you go to jail?" Irrelevant, flawed premise, used to promote the idea of guilt, and an admission to a truth that is not true.
Fake but accurate.
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NEVER FORGET
The one thing the LOVE Itself needs more of in this world,
and GOD is LOVE, is...
...more LOVE.
And this only comes when people are...
...FREE.
This makes our hero American Soldiers who are fighting for the FREEDOM of others around the world...
...instruments of GOD's LOVE here on the Planet Earth...!!!
Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer
Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965
http://www.WeWereSoldiers.com
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
NEVER FORGET
.
MEL's -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts
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The Atlantic Monthly | October 2005
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200510/kaplan-us-special-forces
Imperial Grunts
With the Army Special Forces in the Philippines and Afghanistan—laboratories of counterinsurgency
by Robert D. Kaplan
.....
merica is waging a counterinsurgency campaign not just in Iraq but against Islamic terror groups throughout the world. Counterinsurgency falls into two categories: unconventional war (UW in Special Operations lingo) and direct action (DA). Unconventional war, though it sounds sinister, actually represents the soft, humanitarian side of counterinsurgency: how to win without firing a shot. For example, it may include relief activities that generate good will among indigenous populations, which in turn produces actionable intelligence. Direct action represents more-traditional military operations. In 2003 I spent a summer in the southern Philippines and an autumn in eastern and southern Afghanistan, observing how the U.S. military was conducting these two types of counterinsurgency.
And yes I wish we would of used a different title. BUT this is (IMO) a must read book
I just finished this book yesterday. I thought his thesis (that we are an empire, regardless of the fact that it wasn't deliberate or with the idea of conquest; more to protect trade, at least until the Spanish American War) was pretty reasonable and fairly accurate historically.
His admiration for the military men and women he meets throughout his travels comes through loud and clear.
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Please see my Freeper Home Page...
by hitting the ALOHA RONNIE...
on this post.
Thank you very much, AR.
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Kaplan's "Soldiers of God" was good. He has an ego the size of the Matterhorn...
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
He has an ego the size of the Matterhorn...
Could be, for all I know. What I do know is he's written one h*ll of a book.
Nothing wrong with ego...if you can back it up.
Ping. Please spread the word. Having read the excerpt, this is an important book. This man has a very deep understanding of what we are trying to do (and what is hindering us) in these vital areas.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Will do 18F........thanks for the ping !
Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground
Robert D. Kaplan; Random House, 421 pages, $27.95
He came by our team house in Zamboanga City back in 2003. Nice enough guy, and very smart. Didn't take a lot of notes, and didn't seem like the kind of guy that would need to.
We were interested to see what he was going to write. He said it would probably be a few years before the book was ready, and as soon as I saw this article I thought, 'Man, it already has been a few years!' I wonder what the summer of 2003 will look like in print.
I heard Kaplan on a radio show, his love for the grunts and his loathing of the elite media came through 5x5!
Time sure flies when you're having a good time. :-)
This old zoomie says thanks for the job you're doing.
Imperialism" has traditionally meant the exercise of sovereignty over another people, and at the very least it implies some measure of control. Yet despite U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Germany, all three nations hindered the U.S. drive toward war in Iraq
We exercise a great deal of control over a lot of countries.
We don't look like Imperial Rome or Imperial Britain, and even less like Imperial Russia. We don't demand formal tribute. But our client states do pay for the maintenance of our troops, we do exercise our influence on their governments and cultures, and we do a great deal to promote our culture and businesses everywhere.
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...and NEVER FORGET the loving...
...Military Wives who wait here at home for our Freedom-Fighting Soldiers to come home...
...or not =
The Blessed of the Blessed.
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