The New York Times: Post-’Pottery Barn’ Intervention
Today’s idea: There is an alternative to Colin Powell’s “Pottery Barn rule” — “you break it, you own it” — referring to America’s postinvasion obligations to Iraq. A security analyst proposes “repetitive raiding” as a model for future interventions.
War | On the Foreign Policy blog Small Wars, Robert Haddick calls attention to this essay in Armed Forces Journal, a monthly publication aimed at America’s military leadership. In it, Bernard I. Finel of the American Security Project offers an alternative to leaders seeking to avoid any repetition of costly nation-building efforts like those in Iraq and Afghanistan, requiring the suppression of stubborn insurgencies:
[T]he vast majority of goals can be accomplished through quick, decisive military operations. Not all political goals are achievable this way, but most are and those that cannot be achieved through conventional operations likely cannot be achieved by the application of even the most sophisticated counterinsurgency doctrine either.
As a consequence, I believe the U.S. should adopt a national military strategy that heavily leverages the core capability to break states and target and destroy fixed assets. … Such a strategy — which might loosely be termed “repetitive raiding” — could defeat and disrupt most potential threats the U.S. faces. While America’s adversaries may prefer to engage the U.S. using asymmetric strategies, there is no reason that the U.S. should agree to fight on these terms.
Mr. Finel argues that in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States achieved most of its war objectives very early on and that the costs of staying on far outweighed the benefits of achieving the few remaining goals. After all, he suggests, even when occupying forces eventually leave either place, there’s no guarantee all the broken dishes will have been repaired, so to speak. [Armed Forces Journal via Small Wars]
More Recommended Reading:
Containing Midterm Losses: Learning Reagan’s Lessons from 1982 – John Judis, The New Republic
Social Security to Start Cashing Its Federal I.O.U.’s – Stephen Ohlemacher, The Associated Press
The Arab Tomorrow – David B. Ottoway, The Wilson Quarterly
“Science Fails to Face the Shortcomings of Statistics” – Tom Siegfried, Science News
The Film “Alice” Evokes the Opium Wars and Thus May Anger China — Kevin Slaten, RealClearWorld
Hollywood’s Botox Problem: Actors With Limited Facial Range – Amanda Fortini, New York
Models Advertising Pricier Brands Found to Have Grumpier Faces – New Mexico State University (pdf study)
Stephen King on His Comics Debut – Shannon Donnelly, The Daily Beast
Twain’s Late-Life Vendetta Against a Personal Assistant Belies His Crafted Persona – Scott Martelle, The Los Angeles Times
Move Over, Hillbillies: Hipster Moonshine — Wayne Curtis, The Atlantic
