New military school gives officers new tools

The Washington Post ^ | Feb. 21, 2006 | Thomas E. Ricks

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New military school gives officers new tools

Course in Iraq challenges conventional tactics, stresses cultural awareness

TAJI, Iraq - If the U.S. effort in Iraq ultimately is successful, one reason may be the small school started recently on a military base here by Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq.

Called the COIN Academy -- using military shorthand for "counterinsurgency" -- the newest educational institution in the U.S. military establishment seeks, as a course summary puts it, to "stress the need for U.S. forces to shift from a conventional warfare mindset" to one that understands how to win in a guerrilla-style conflict. Or, as a sign on the wall of one administrator's office here put it less politely: "Insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different outcome."

The purpose of the school north of Baghdad is to try to bring about a different outcome than the U.S. military achieved in 2003-04, when Army commanders committed mistakes typical of a conventional military facing an insurgency. "When the insurgency started, we came in very conventional," said Col. Chris Short, the District native and recent Manassas resident who is the new school's commandant.

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...to understanding why killing insurgents usually is the least desirable outcome in dealing with them.

Unbelievable.

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Even now, some conventional unit commanders balk at the idea of leaving their troops for the five-day course, which covers subjects from counterinsurgency theory and interrogations to detainee operations and how to dine with a sheik.

Do the rules of engagement now require our guys to first extend an invitation to dinner and if refused then shoot?? Sounds like the PC crowd have gotten their boys placed in charge over there.