Polls Continue To Show An Unstable Presidential Campaign
He Is Who He Is
Obama Leads McCain In Frequent Flyer Miles
Lies Have Legs, Obama. Don't Let Them Go Unchallenged
Making The Pigs Squeal
A Way Back To The High Road?
Union Bosses Joyful Over Obama Lead
Mr. Obama, Welcome to the NFL!
Martha's Big Adventure - A Parental Guide to Grown Children
George Bush's Unrequited Love
No Credit Where Credit Is Due
Talking Veepstakes
The Next Time You Say, 'Bush Lied, People Died' -- Think
We Can, And Must, Help Gorilla Species Survive
Is Anyone Ready?
Tinseltown Transformations
Mccaffrey: We Can't Shoot Our Way Out Of Afghanistan
Forgetting The Evils of Communism
Hillary's Growing Shadow
Harper's Index
A Nation of Whiners? Perhaps
'Swing Vote': What It Tells Us About The '08 Race, And Why Obama Needs To Put Kevin Costner On His Ipod
Where Is The Outrage?
The Real Competition In China
The Old Guy's Technical Foul
No Name For The River
Do Democrats Want Obama To Be Another 'War President'?
Pelosi: Save the Planet, Let Someone Else Drill
Obama Supports Union Ploy To Drop Secret Ballots
Birth Control: The New Pollutant
Rustling Up Some Bovine Love
The Mccain-Obama Kabuki On Race
What America's Daughters Need To Know About Nancy Pelosi
Al Gore Has Big Ideas But He's Not Running
Bad Economy May Hurt Obama
Septalingualism: The New Language Of New Yorkers
Cartoon Character
Change We Can Believe In
Can McCain Back In Again?
Obama Hasn't Closed The Deal Yet
No Celebrating Others' Misfortune
Barack Obama's Naive Berlin Speech -- Part Two
Whatever Happened To The Straight Talk Express?
Regulation without Representation
Fight or Die
Call In The Civilians
The Shame Of Postville
Free The Oil -- And Other Slick Tricks
Weapons Too Dangerous For Others
New Generation, New Kind of Daddy
Obama Should See This Play
The Great Garet Garrett -- Interview with Bruce Ramsey
Death of A Prophet
Blind Defense of Koran Abrogates Reality
The Rhinoceros in the Room ... RACE
Sacramento Dreaming Again
A Regrettable Retirement



Do We Still Have Grants And Shermans?
Victor Davis Hanson 5/22/2008
Digg This Story!
Del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Yahoo! MyWeb Technorati Google Bookmarks Furl Ma.gnolia Newsvine Bloglines Rojo Facebook
Who becomes a general — and why — tells us a lot about whether our military is on the right or wrong track. The annual spring list of Army colonels promoted to brigadier generals will be shortly released. Already, rumors suggest that this year, unlike in the recent past, a number of maverick officers who have distinguished themselves fighting — and usually defeating — insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq will be chosen.

For example, scholar-soldier Col. H.R. McMaster, Special Forces Col. Ken Tovo and Col. Sean MacFarland — all of whom helped turn Sunni insurgents into allies — could, and should, make the cut.

These three colonels have had decorated careers in Iraq mastering the complexities of working with Iraqi forces in hunting down terrorists and insurgents. And they, like David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, in the past did not always reflect the Army establishment in Washington. Their unconventional views about counterinsurgency warfare do not hinge on high-tech weaponry, tanks, artillery and rapid massed advance.

But most wars are rarely fought as they were planned. During the fighting, those who adjust most quickly to the unexpected tend to be successful. And in almost all of America's past conflicts, our top commanders on the eve of
war were not those who finished it.

Few in 1861 anticipated the carnage that would ensue in the American Civil War, in which massive armies collided with lethal new weapons — and depended on industrial production, electronic communications and railroads.

Before the war broke out in 1861, the obscure U.S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman had failed at almost everything they had tried. But after the Union army was nearly wrecked by establishment generals like Ambrose Burnside, Henry Halleck, Joseph Hooker, George McClellan, John Pope and William Rosecrans (who were all wedded to the set style of Napoleonic warfare), President Lincoln turned to his two generals who

best understood modern warfare.

On the eve of World War II, Gen. George Marshall, the Army chief of staff, promoted a series of junior officers — Omar Bradley, J. Lawton Collins, Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, Matthew Ridgway and Maxwell Taylor — while retiring senior generals he felt had little idea of the new warfare of armored vehicles, rapid mobility and close air support.

The Iraqi war is no exception. The brilliant and rapid invasion of Iraq in March and April 2003 required accomplished artillery and armor commanders — quite unlike the subsequent insurgency.

Add Feed to ZapTXT Add Feed to Bloglines Add Feed to Technorati Add Feed to LibWorm! Add Feed to My Yahoo! Add Feed to Google Add Feed to Newsgator Add Feed to Rojo Add Feed to Windows Live Add Feed to My MSN
Make A Comment
We appreciate your feedback. Post a comment using the form below.
Your Name (required)
Your Comments
Type the characters you see in the image: