“Destroying the village to save it.” Have we heard this story before? And no civilian casualties! I can think of a number of small towns and cities in this country that might be amenable to this type of urban renewal.

Paula Broadwell writes: “Indeed, clearing operations are a necessary evil to weed out the Taliban, and they often leave devastating destruction in the wake.” Firstly, I suspect our forces flatter themselves on the effectiveness of operations like this. It’s likely the Taliban were not destroyed or at least most of them weren’t and are circulating in the vicinity. Also, they probably have some brand new recruits infuriated that Americans came to their village and using 24 tons of high explosives blew it to kingdom come.

If I was a twenty-year old Afghan whose home had been vaporized by people from the other side of the planet I know what I would be doing to seek vengeance. My guess in the great scheme of things this event will be accretive to the great swelling failure of our entire effort in that land despite the well-meaning efforts of LTC David Flynn and the brave soldiers under his command. I am looking forward to more breathless accounts from Ms. Broadwell on our march to victory in Afghanistan.

A blog post by the credulous for the credulous. If the kinetic ops and the reconstruction ops really are this easy, then the view on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan would be different.

Does this woman write speeches for Sarah Palin?

Lieutenant Colonel Flynn may see a new town rebuilt. . . .maybe even before he rotates. I’ll also give Flynn some credit, as he understood the destroyed orchards, if replanted , would take time to mature, and in the mean time, he thought about an alternate, faster maturing crop.

However, we probably had a several thousand years old town and cultural microcosm wiped-out with 24.6 tons of aerially delivered ordnance. A small cultural slice of Afghanistan that once earned a livelyhood, handed down from one generation to another as traditional pomegranate producers, and now America is going to have these Afghans become saffron farmers

This episode of LtCol Flynn’s endeavor of leading cannibalized artilleryman turned into a provincial infantry battalion as described in Mademoiselle Broadwell's breath taking account sounds like everyone took a page out of the old Soviet-Afgan War manual instead of the COIN colonial field manual?

I am just trying to figure out in what capacity is Ms Broadwell writing:

as a scholar
as a think tank analyst
as an embedded reporter with a us unit
as an operational scribe
some combination of all of the above

what?

gian

...the government's senior spot-welding institute...

The destruction looks biblical in its finality, quite a breathtaking example. It seems unlikely that all the enemy ordnance described was destroyed, as opposed to buried and scattered by the bombing.

Metal has been scavenged from ruins, as part of the cycle of war, since both were invented in central Asia. If the alternative is slow freezing malnutrition, salvaging metal and marketable explosives might seem worth the risk of a few teenagers.

I suggest that Ms Broadwell's journal be accepted for what it is, gratefully. Without attacking a messenger who's gone where I cannot. My active duty family tell us that interaction with the locals, even on base, is rare to impossible, prohibited and unwise for most.

We get one side of the story, or none at all. I do wonder how 'no CIVCAS' is warranteed, with full confidence.

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

If foreigners came and blew up my house here in England, I would hate them even if they rebuilt it better. It wouldn't be the home I had known, my security and dignity would have been destroyed, and presumably I would have lost most of my possessions of sentimental value. I strongly suspect that Paula Broadwell and David Flynn would both feel the same way. So why do they expect Afghans to be different?

this could be misidentified as a post surgery pathology review. Was it misidentified? Do we do reviews or self evaluation any more?

When I first saw this article I thought the photos had their captions reversed. In my world and my understanding of our goals in Afghanistan, I thought that the vibrant green village was the end state we were looking for. However, I guess bombed out, flattened, dust bowls are our actual goals. As with all articles by Paula this one fails to not disappoint. (that's exactly as I meant it to read).

Keep in mind that she has been chosen by Petreaus to write his biography. She has unlimited access to him and it seems that someone who is looking at making a lot of money off this access is reluctant to say anything other than the positive. She seems to have exchanged her West Point track uniform for a Petreaus cheerleader uniform.

Her other agenda seems to be not painting herself into a corner for a post-war political job. If you notice she doesn't ever take a firm stance on either side. She rolls right down the middle being careful not have any strong opinions that might hurt her in any future job interviews. Her articles are like non-fat, unsweetened, frozen vanilla yogurt. It looks like something good and takes up space, but in the end you're completely un-fulfilled and un-satisfied.

The fact that someone as educated, experienced and close to General Petraeus as Paula Broadwell actually considers the story described above a success that is suitable to justify the air-raiding of villages and to describe the progress of our troops in Afghanistan is highly alarming and another indication that this war was lost a long time ago.

I don't know if Paula Broadwell is anything special or just another Kimberly Kagan, a Petraeus Peanut Gallery propagandist; but the following statement: "We've had all the people vetted by the District Governor to verify that they are the true landowners," leaves me wondering. After all, it was her beloved Petraeus who defined the Afghan Gov as "a criminal syndicate" and the claim it officially made that:

"Earlier this week, a GIRoA delegation led by President Karzai's advisor, Mohammad Sadiq Aziz, said Afghan and foreign forces caused unreasonable damage to homes and orchards and displaced a number of people. Indeed, clearing operations are a necessary evil to weed out the Taliban, and they often leave devastating destruction in the wake. But what Aziz failed to note is the tremendous effort some units, like 1-320th, have made to rebuild his country."

is sort of the "criminal syndicate" explaining that Petraeus had to destroy everything these people had in order to save them for a future life under Aziz’s "criminal syndicate."

Tom Ricks seems to have undergone some weird convolutions and I don't know why. But I would suggest he reads some of his own stuff before endorsing the wondrous Petraeus Peanut Gallery.

"Rebuilding" in one man's eyes may be insult on injury in another's-- especially if the destroyer is a foreign infidel and the victim a person who lost everything tying him to his own past. I'd love to see Braudwell's thesis defense; will it be as perfunctory as that at Princeton for Petraeus's appalling thesis? This piece all sells like a lot of Petraeusisms saying that these Afghans were so glad we bombed their village in order to rebuild them a brand new one. Well, Broadwell wasn't in the village or of it, like the victims of the bombing. She's reporting Flynn's “unbiased” account....that a way to go girl, reeeeeal scholarship!

9/11 is the only time her country suffered demolition bombing. Is she happy alQaeda did that so those two buildings-- proving to have been a real estate bust-- will be replaced by a shinny new glass structure?

Yep, Americans have reached such a level of anomie toward Afghans that, as opposed to during the Vietnam War, they can believe such hokum since they can say: "ah well, ain't my kid going to war.". Alas, my dear, we as a people have just been had by Wall Street and your tune sounds too much like what so recently screwed us all real bad. Of course, Petraeus's concern is how to keep his war going until the Taliban dies of exhaustion. In his mind Vietnam was lost because we didn't devote the decades necessary to outlast insurgents (read his PhD thesis), hence his pathetic Peanut Gallery propagandists since his first surge.

LTC Flynn might note that he's the foreigner in Afghanistan, not the Taliban; and, he's killing and destroying to get even for the suffering of his expeditionary corps, not that of Afghans; and then justifies it as to serve the "legit" Karzai Gov. I only want to ask if the Koolaid at the Pentagon is so slow release, making it sooooo long lasting that he can keep believing this stuff instead of realizing that there is no other rhyme of reason for what he did than delay the inevitable Vietnam repeat, departure with tail between legs.

Given that our national leadership can't decide whether it wants to go after the Taliban and nation-build Afghanistan in our image or just to destroy alQaeda, I would say Flynn destroys senselessly for there is no national strategy to all this, just careerism for guys who might otherwise be pink-slipped as after Vietnam. Note that this is not some civilian notion and not new:

http://forum-network.org/lecture/iraq-beyond-boston-review-ideas-matter-event

Petraeus's war toys were, like all the imported American trinkets we enjoy, bought on loans from China. Imagine they foreclosing on the debt and leaving Petraeus toyless. Meanwhile, he enjoys continuation of the Bush-it Pentagon that spent for his war off-budget as if nobody pays. Someone way up there, not just Ricks and Broadwell may be smoking something strange. Imagine that your son or daughter were in combat risking life and limb for this clueless strategy-less now decade running chaos.

There are ambivalent villages that cherish there independence and support neither the government nor the Taliban. We could reinforce their independence and help train a self-defense force. If they are llike the folks in the Korengal Valley, they depise anyone who enters their area and almost tell you to your face that they will fight you. Perhaps they should be bypassed? Do they permit Taliban activity and passage? Should they be relocated?

There are villages where you can feel the hatred and they support the Taliban. Do what they did in Malaya - relocate them into a virtual prison rather than blow them up. Then fight the Taliban in that space where they have lost local logistical and intel support.

There are villages where they are accepting of development efforts and do not want the Taliban in their area. Welcome to COIN land where you can help them defend their village and dig wells, etc.

During the time when you are determining the villages orientation, there will be fighting and IEDs. If these are "bad" people, why bomb them into oblivion or destroy their homes? Move them out to a village inside wire far away from there homes. Kill the Taliban in the area if they stay around.

If we use conventional tactics while the people are there supporting the Taliban, we will become the Russians and flatten the village and kill the people. These tactics will poison the well and the word will get out that we are not different from the Russians. This will consolidate all types of Afghans against us and we will either kill them or be forced out.

In RVN most villagers wanted everybody to leave them alone, but would accept aid and the creation of self-defense units. The only other type of village was where they despised you and the government. In the Delta, we were usually able to to just bypass them and/or search for caches and move on. Elsewhere in RVN, conventional units often destroyed the structures leaving behind people reinforced in their VC support.which certainly does not fit thye broad spectrum of situations they face. Ironically, they have been exposed to these variables on the ground. What they need is to discuss case studies led by other experienced leaders. Yes, they must t5ake an unconventional warfare approach complement by *some* area studies. Has the incomplete memory of the Vietnam experience so blinded the military to those few things that worked in RVN? We are deploying uninformed leaders. They are intellectually unarmed.

Although I did not provide shades of gray, that's pretty much the landscape and the contrast with RVN. Now, do our commanders treat each village as a unique challenge or do we use one alleged COIN template? Everyone is not going to come out and play and they certainly are not going to look to the mirage of a central government. Frankly, many seem naive or cynical in their efforts. Are you doing COIN -Yes sir! No one appears to be asking, "What can we do in this particular village?"

If you think my models are simplistic, look at what some of our untrained commanders are doing. What school do we send our leaders to before commanding in Afghanistan? None. We need a school environment in which leaders discuss these issues prior to what is now redeployment. They have not had this chance. All they appear to have is a COIN bible

There are ambivalent villages that cherish there independence and support neither the government nor the Taliban. We could reinforce their independence and help train a self-defense force. If they are llike the folks in the Korengal Valley, they depise anyone who enters their area and almost tell you to your face that they will fight you. Perhaps they should be bypassed? Do they permit Taliban activity and passage? Should they be relocated?

There are villages where you can feel the hatred and they support the Taliban. Do what they did in Malaya - relocate them into a virtual prison rather than blow them up. Then fight the Taliban in that space where they have lost local logistical and intel support.

There are villages where they are accepting of development efforts and do not want the Taliban in their area. Welcome to COIN land where you can help them defend their village and dig wells, etc.

During the time when you are determining the villages orientation, there will be fighting and IEDs. If these are "bad" people, why bomb them into oblivion or destroy their homes? Move them out to a village inside wire far away from there homes. Kill the Taliban in the area if they stay around.

If we use conventional tactics while the people are there supporting the Taliban, we will become the Russians and flatten the village and kill the people. These tactics will poison the well and the word will get out that we are not different from the Russians. This will consolidate all types of Afghans against us and we will either kill them or be forced out.

In RVN most villagers wanted everybody to leave them alone, but would accept aid and the creation of self-defense units. The only other type of village was where they despised you and the government. In the Delta, we were usually able to to just bypass them and/or search for caches and move on. Elsewhere in RVN, conventional units often destroyed the structures leaving behind people reinforced in their VC support.which certainly does not fit thye broad spectrum of situations they face. Ironically, they have been exposed to these variables on the ground. What they need is to discuss case studies led by other experienced leaders. Yes, they must t5ake an unconventional warfare approach complement by *some* area studies. Has the incomplete memory of the Vietnam experience so blinded the military to those few things that worked in RVN? We are deploying uninformed leaders. They are intellectually unarmed.

Although I did not provide shades of gray, that's pretty much the landscape and the contrast with RVN. Now, do our commanders treat each village as a unique challenge or do we use one alleged COIN template? Everyone is not going to come out and play and they certainly are not going to look to the mirage of a central government. Frankly, many seem naive or cynical in their efforts. Are you doing COIN -Yes sir! No one appears to be asking, "What can we do in this particular village?"

If you think my models are simplistic, look at what some of our untrained commanders are doing. What school do we send our leaders to before commanding in Afghanistan? None. We need a school environment in which leaders discuss these issues prior to what is now redeployment. They have not had this chance. All they appear to have is a COIN bible

To give the appearance of objectivity and scholarship perhaps, the article describes Paula Broadwell as a researcher associated with Harvard. In fact she is a career military officer and counter terrorism employee. In other words, she is one of the fine mercenaries our military system has developed in the absence of a draft. You can see her bio here:
http://wiis.georgetown.edu/about/eb/#Paula_Broadwell

Saying she is merely a researcher associated with Harvard is deceptive, dishonest journalism. She clearly has a bias, based on the industry in which she works. This would be like an executive of Dow Chemical writing an op-ed piece about the EPA, identifying himself as a "concerned parent."

And Americans wonder why the world hates us. This is why. This flippant, dismissive attitude towards those pathetic people's "mud huts" as if we were a child kicking an ant hill rather than destroying human beings' homes. It is appalling, disgusting, shameful, and horrifying.

It must be nice to be Paula Broadwell, to laugh at poor people's sad lives and then go home to her posh, well-appointed house in an expensive DC suburb. It must be nice to make a fortune off the misery and misfortune of other human beings. I don't know how she sleeps at night, to be honest.