BBC Online wrote:
Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster said US tactics early in the occupation had alienated Iraqis and exacerbated problems for the coalition.
. . .
In it Brig Aylwin-Foster says American officers displayed such cultural insensitivities that it "arguably amounted to institutional racism" and may have helped spur the insurgency.
. . .
While the army is "indisputably the master of conventional war fighting, it is notably less proficient in... what the US defence community often calls Operations Other Than War," the officer wrote.
Operations to win the peace in Iraq were "weighed down by bureaucracy, a stiflingly hierarchical outlook, predisposition to offensive operations and a sense that duty required all issues to be confronted head on"
. . .
In it Brig Aylwin-Foster says American officers displayed such cultural insensitivities that it "arguably amounted to institutional racism" and may have helped spur the insurgency.
. . .
While the army is "indisputably the master of conventional war fighting, it is notably less proficient in... what the US defence community often calls Operations Other Than War," the officer wrote.
Operations to win the peace in Iraq were "weighed down by bureaucracy, a stiflingly hierarchical outlook, predisposition to offensive operations and a sense that duty required all issues to be confronted head on"
Pretty strong stuff, but he claims his motivation was "to be helpful to an institution I greatly respect"
The US Army response was equally interesting.
Obviously, initial hostility:
Quote:
Col Kevin Benson, commander of the US Army's elite School of Advanced Military Studies, said his first reaction was that Brig Aylwin-Foster was "an insufferable British snob".
"Some of this is pretty powerful stuff and it made me a little upset," the colonel told the BBC.
"Some of this is pretty powerful stuff and it made me a little upset," the colonel told the BBC.
But then an interesting openness:
Quote:
"But sometimes good articles do make you angry. We should publish articles like this. We are in a war and we must always be thinking of how we can improve the way we operate."
Linky
I have to say that this echoes discussions I've had with a recently returned RAF Officer - "Their soldiers are tough as old boots and bloody good fighters, but they'd been given fu[/i]ck-all understanding of their environment."
Sure, some can just write this off as classic British pompousness (we are good at that), but we have vast experience of managing long-term conflict zones in a 'Other Than War' environment. (Aden, Belize, Cyprus, Angola, Northern Ireland etc.)
There's a big difference between a war where your aim is to overcome the enemy and take power, and one where you plan to defeat an opposing aemy but leave the area at peace in the hands of the locals.
Maybe Col. Benson is merely acknowledging that this is something that few US Officers have been subjected to.
Right, back to di[i]ck and phart jokes
