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Ideology is often the Center of Gravity, or true strength to a society. People become more amenable to changing ideology when the society has experienced a tremendous amount of pain and violence. Two notable examples is Japan and Germany. Neither country had the will or desire to fight against Allied forces. We exerted our will upon them.
Let's now look at Afghanistan and Iraq. We will most likely leave much of the enemy in tact with their ideology, will, desire, and ability to press the fight. Growth of a fledgling nation is predicated on safety and security, but it is fleeting. It's deja vu.
What are your thoughts?
Let's now look at Afghanistan and Iraq. We will most likely leave much of the enemy in tact with their ideology, will, desire, and ability to press the fight. Growth of a fledgling nation is predicated on safety and security, but it is fleeting. It's deja vu.
What are your thoughts?
Posted in these groups: 
Afghanistan
Iraq
Afghanistan Iraq
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 8
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The Russians are having another go at it. Let their troops take some hits for awhile. Maybe their strategies will enable something better to happen.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
It would be interesting to see them approach the military problems of Iraq and Afghanistan.
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I served alongside the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) on a Transition Team. They were willing to stand up and fight, and we trained and armed them. However, the weakness, in our ideology influencing theirs, started when our government started letting them know that we weren't in it for the long term. We should have been able to maintain our influence in another role after the ISF assumed the security mission for their country. I remember Local Nationals that worked for us in Iraq, they were facing death sometimes for collaborating but they felt strongly enough to continue to assist in rebuilding their security forces. Therefore, their ideology and our ideology both need to synchronize, but allow each to attain their own goals while continuing harmoniously.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
I am sure many Iraqis felt like they got kicked in the gut by us and the insurgents.
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LTC Michael Hrycak
I remember when Congress had stopped allowing us to fuel up the Iraqi vehicles when they came to our FOB for training, and you can tell that it was just the beginning of what we were not going to do. We kept trying to get them to operate in a coordinated manner, especially logistically, and they still insisted on handling them at their level, as well as allocating training - rather than having staff sharing their needs. So, we could only get so far with our ideology, but we did get them to take over their security, but not during my tour.
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The only way to beat an ideology is to change the ideology by changing it, imposing yours on it, our killing all who have it. It ends up being total war. Since no western countries are willing to wage total war the western way can never win that way.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
Paradoxes: Not destroying the Ideology, not destroying the enemy will to fight, chasing after insurgents with a huge army, claiming victory after some metrics are met, generally stating we are not in for the long haul.
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