Taking a walk with Sisyphus.
US commander strolls streets of contested city, eating ice cream and talking progress - International Herald Tribune
The article I highlighted yesterday dealt very specifically with conditions in Hit...as does this one. Once again, we see an effort to reestablish some sort of rule of law within the city. As is the unfortunate norm, it's almost as if 1-36 didn't spend a year there trying to do the same. Much as had been the case when 1-36 replaced a Marine MEU that had "succeeded" in its counterinsurgency campaign.
Combined, these reports easily lead one to view the COIN campaign in Iraq as a Sisyphean challenge. For a more optimistic spin on things, check out this Wikipedia entry highlighting US military efforts in Hit...and then sink back to the realization that all of the good work done there previously is now being done again - as if for the first time - by the next unit in the hopper - 2/7 IN from 3rd ID.
My personal belief, putting aside strategic and grand strategic issues, is that the method(s) of unit rotation employed by the US Military in Iraq prevent long term success. As each unit rotates in, Sisyphus' boulder rolls back down the hill while they figure out how to push it back up without getting killed in the process. Then, as they start to get some momentum, bam. Time to rotate. Time for the next unit to start from scratch. Hrmph.
2 comments:
I've still never quite figured out why military people rotate through so many units in their career let alone why units rotate through AOs. It seems that the whole process is so always-on-going that no long-term things could ever be planned for units or AOs.
Exactly! The only long term planning is done by the bad guys. They know they're going to be there for the long haul.
I'm not arguing for leaving Soldiers and Marines on the ground for years...just for a coherent rotation policy that keeps the same folks with the same vision operating in (or preparing to operate in) the same AO until the mission is complete (or as complete as we can get it).
Unfortunately, one of the deeply-held "lessons learned" from Vietnam has to do with rotation policy. It also happens to be poorly interpreted by those implementing the current rotation policy. All we're doing now is reinventing the wheel every 12 months (for the Army) and every 6-7 months (for the Marines).
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