Pete
12-04-2011, 09:24
At Pentagon, COIN Losing Currency
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/04/at_pentagon_coin_losing_currency_112275.html
"WASHINGTON -- As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta prepares his recommendations for Pentagon budget cuts, he is likely to reduce the military's resources for future, large-scale counterinsurgency operations of the sort that were ballyhooed just a few years ago in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The boom in "COIN," as these operations are known, has proved to be something of a bubble. Budget pressures have curbed the appetite for the ambitious, "protect-the-population" missions that were promoted with such enthusiasm by Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The focus increasingly is on raids by the tighter, more kinetic Special Operations Forces, which are seen as the big success story of these wars, to the extent success can be claimed........................................... ."
Hmmm, just think of all the people on welfare we can give a raise to with the savings we get from the Military.
From deeper in the article ....
"..............The practical impact of this Asia tilt will be to boost relative spending for the Navy and Air Force, which are America's traditional means of projecting military power in the Pacific. Pentagon officials caution, however, that the Centcom region -- an arc of instability from Morocco to Pakistan -- will also remain a top priority, and won't be starved for resources to pay for the new emphasis on Asia. That makes me wonder: How can Panetta go "big" on Asia and the Middle East at the same time, and also cut costs?................"
Hmmm, war on two fronts? Man, that's so 1990ish.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/04/at_pentagon_coin_losing_currency_112275.html
"WASHINGTON -- As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta prepares his recommendations for Pentagon budget cuts, he is likely to reduce the military's resources for future, large-scale counterinsurgency operations of the sort that were ballyhooed just a few years ago in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The boom in "COIN," as these operations are known, has proved to be something of a bubble. Budget pressures have curbed the appetite for the ambitious, "protect-the-population" missions that were promoted with such enthusiasm by Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The focus increasingly is on raids by the tighter, more kinetic Special Operations Forces, which are seen as the big success story of these wars, to the extent success can be claimed........................................... ."
Hmmm, just think of all the people on welfare we can give a raise to with the savings we get from the Military.
From deeper in the article ....
"..............The practical impact of this Asia tilt will be to boost relative spending for the Navy and Air Force, which are America's traditional means of projecting military power in the Pacific. Pentagon officials caution, however, that the Centcom region -- an arc of instability from Morocco to Pakistan -- will also remain a top priority, and won't be starved for resources to pay for the new emphasis on Asia. That makes me wonder: How can Panetta go "big" on Asia and the Middle East at the same time, and also cut costs?................"
Hmmm, war on two fronts? Man, that's so 1990ish.