UK officer slams US Iraq tactics
A senior British Army officer has sparked
indignation in the US with a scathing article criticising the US Army's
performance in Iraq.
Colonel Blimp’s replacement in the Middle East
A senior British Army officer has sparked indignation in the US with a scathing article criticising the US Army’s performance in Iraq.
Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster said US tactics early in the occupation had alienated Iraqis and exacerbated problems for the coalition.
Officers displayed cultural ignorance, self-righteousness, over-optimism and unproductive management, he said.
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”, he added.
Is anyone surprised to witness the same level of denial in the Pentagon typical of Congress and the White House? Perish the thought that you might learn something from criticism. It must be an anti-American plot, right?
Posted: Thu - January 12, 2006 at 09:24 AM