Friday, December 02, 2005

Pentagon Serious About "Stability Ops"

Looks like Tom Barnett's SystAdmin theory is finally getting some notice. From Washington Post:

A broad Pentagon directive issued this week orders the U.S. military to be sure, the next time it goes to war, to prepare more thoroughly for picking up the pieces afterward.
More than a year in the making, the directive represents an ambitious attempt to bring about a fundamental, permanent widening in what U.S. troops are trained and equipped to do.


...The revised policy follows widespread criticism that the Pentagon neglected to plan sufficiently for the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion. Not only did conditions in the country turn out worse than anticipated -- in the form of a fierce insurgency and mammoth reconstruction challenges -- but early Pentagon hopes of being able to hand off a large share of responsibility to U.S. and foreign civilian organizations and to Iraqis proved overly optimistic


Would such a force have prevented the kind of war we now see in Iraq? I'm not so sure, but at least it may have been harder for the enemy who looted a good deal of Saddam's arsenal before our guys could secure it.