Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Santorum shows that good old neocon cluelessness

First off, he doesn't even know the terms of the debate. What's a "guerrilla insurgence force?" Guerrillas are insurgents by definition. That's hardly a minor point, given the ongoing debate about the wisdom of fighting counterinsurgency wars, a debate of which Rick seems blissfully unaware. For more on that, check former Vietnam Green Beret Pat Lang's blog here.

Second, just what is his plan for eradicating the guerrillas? I've been covering counterinsurgency wars since 1985 and I never heard of such a plan, at least not one successfully implemented by an occupying power. The Salvadorans and Guatemalans did indeed eradicate insurgencies, but they did so precisely because they were extremely brutal and had nowhere else to go.

That recent slaughter by an American GI? There were far worse slaughters that never made the news during those insurgencies.

Does Rick want to fire up the death squads? It works like a charm, but it's messy stuff.

No comments:

opinions powered by SendLove.to