The Counterinsurgent’s Curriculum
Twenty years ago, the United States invaded Iraq and unwittingly ushered in a lengthy struggle for stability and security in the country. U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expected a short, sharp war that would end once U.S. forces expelled the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The U.S. military was primed to rapidly and surgically cut through the Iraqi army with its high-tech forces, a swift intervention that would culminate in the seizing of Baghdad. Instead, faulty assumptions, mistakes after Saddam’s ouster, and an invasion force that was too small to secure the country allowed the growth of a virulent insurgency that proved difficult to defeat.… Seguir leyendo »