That old tired proverb, “necessity is the mother of invention” should be drilled into our military planners’ heads, as evidenced by this report in the “At War: Notes From the Front Lines” column in the New York Times a few days ago, “Insights Into How Insurgents Fought In Iraq”, by John Ismay, which chronicles a detailed look at not only the types of weaponry used by insurgents in Iraq, but even more importantly the creative and inventive ways in how they used them. The article brings to the fore that there is no magic force equation, like our doctrinaire belief in “overwhelming force” being the only consideration in strategic planning. We possessed all the force advantages and insurgents came along and improvised continuously, as this article explains, using even a weapon, the obsolete RKG-3 Soviet-era grenade in creative ways to capitalize on a convoy formation weakness, whereby they engaged close-up with our convoy straggler vehicles. Ismay goes on to explain that Iraq was awash in all sorts of weaponry and insurgents made not only tactical decisions based on the terrain (often urban areas), but also were able to form strategic plans, where they adapted quickly and improvised, while we were slow at securing weapons caches.
The lessons learned from an enemy that improvises with a wide array of weapons, like in Iraq, will challenge our military planners in other hot spots, so rather than get caught up in COIN, 4th Generation War or any of the other theories, perhaps, we should take a page out of our adversaries’ playbook and put emphasis on being adaptable on the battlefield, giving commanders some leeway to improvise and get rid of some of the lawyers, bogging down our forces. The first thing we need is what they have and we are sorely missing – strategic clarity. They have a clearly understood mission, that even their most lowly suicidal nut embraces. We have media-ready sound bytes. And let’s face it, we might not be so successful in other battlefields against committed religious zealots, by showing up with suitcases of cash, trying to bribe cooperation and loyalty (not that we’ve been very successful thus far actually). We need to quit with the PC-induced military theories and deal with the real facts on the ground, which most likely will look quite different from the propagandized claptrap the political generals are spouting on TV, with dewy-eyed reporters prefacing all this crapola with: “Today I am interviewing, General Bullshitter, a renowned military expert of his generation, blah, blah, blah.” Then we get deluged in more crackpot theories, half-baked strategies that lead us nowhere………… but hey, they sound good and the clueless press and low information voters eat this up and repeat the lies.
libertybelle diaries 
We have a magnificent military, but there are so many rules and regulations dictating individual and group behavior that, at any given moment, any given action (or inaction) taken may land the individual or group in trouble, with little relationship between the amount of trouble and the triggering behavior. The normal wartime measuring standards of logic, bravery, brotherhood, strategic and tactical expertise, and all the other items in the American military toolkit, cannot be trusted to build a firm foundation for action. The strongest wall of honorable intent can be breached at any time because the political will directing the military is fragmented and even self-contradictory.
There is no handbook by which to make judgments. Small problems are exaggerated and large issues are ignored. The ever-present menace of a malice-directed camera or microphone can destroy lives and goals without remorse or hesitation. An act by which an enemy does an unspeakable evil is treated as a logical manifestation of a normal reaction to our side’s unforgiveable racism, sexism, colonialism, xenophobic rancor, Judeo-Christian intolerance, or any other item or attitude that can be invented and then captured in a contemptuous, condemning label or phrase. Any innocence on our side is ignored; any guilt on theirs is explained away. The truth is buried in the dust; the lie is blared forth from countless sources for days.
Yet still what is left of America fields an extraordinary military—think of what we could accomplish if our leaders were worthy of it.
Minta, your comment certainly is much more eloquent than my post. Sadly, this President has initiated a flurry of policies to undercut our military, in both large ways and small, some overtly, some by stealth. What we end up with in the end remains to be seen. Sadly, our military leadership at the top seems to be much more politicized and obsessed with political correctness and playing to these ever-present cameras, to avoid bad press and more propagandized stories to contend with. General Petraeus appalled me with how he played to our enemies’ propaganda – urging that nutty pastor not to burn a Koran, while not even murmuring a word of outrage about the rampaging barbarians who had hacked NGO workers to death. Their actions were rationalized as being caused over anger at that Koran-burning incident in Afghanistan. And stupid Lindsey Graham, yes he understood their anger and chimed in to talk about perhaps we needed to do something to prevent this pastor from that action to avoid putting our troops at risk……….. Such was the contorted logic – throw away free speech rights to appease “righteously-offended” barbarians. No, their actions made perfect sense, yet our soldiers in difficult battlefield environments need to consult the military lawyers before defending themselves………