Posted on Jan 9, 2015
LTC Cavalry Officer
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I've been twice, 2006 and 2011-12, and of course been paying attention for quite a while.

Is it difficult to accept that for everything we did, we lost, or do we need to redefine the terms?
Posted in these groups: Iraq war Warfare
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CPT Jack Durish
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I suspect that almost every American war belongs in the loss column based on popular opinion polls. I'm tempted to leave out WWII, but fear that it too might be seen as a loss by today's generation who seem to fear "keeping score".

Fully one third of the colonists opposed the American Revolution and another third hid from it in the wilds. Imagine how that opinion poll might look.

Between you and me (an audience for whom I have greater respect than the population at large), I suspect that we would have to first define the terms of victory before we could evaluate whether to put Afghanistan in the win or loss column. Sadly, our leaders in the District of Calamity didn't decide this before launching the war.
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LTC Cavalry Officer
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CPT Jack Durish , thank you hitting the nail on the head. I also wonder how much the media impacts this based on the much higher level of reporting that has happened over the past few years.
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CW5 Desk Officer
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Edited 10 y ago
That is a disappointing poll, sir. I wonder if it was influenced by the failure of the Iraqi armed forces to do much of anything against ISIS. I realize it's Iraq and Afghanistan, two different countries, but the average American may not.

I would probably vote "Not sure" in that poll, because - while we did all kinds of good - I wonder if it will last. I also question whether anyone or anything could possibly change the lifestyle, the culture, and the in-fighting in that country and that part of the world, things that are deeply entrenched and have been for centuries.
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LTC Cavalry Officer
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CW5 (Join to see) , that is exactly the issue, misinformation and misunderstanding, but I would also posit that it is the definition of the terms used that leads to the answers given.
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Cpl Software Engineer
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Just like the MBTI asks the same question reworded several different ways, polling does the exact same thing to appeal to people who think differently. Nationally, MBTI feelers are 59% of the tested population. If they aren't dominant or auxiliary thinkers, they will interpret the question differently, thereby skewing the results of the poll. In my opinion, polls have been designed to shape a person's thoughts through group think instead of inform.
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