Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Quote of the day: A good warning from Conrad Crane back in September 2002

Yesterday I was reading an old paper by Conrad Crane of the Army’s Military Heritage Institute, when this passage on page 18 jumped out at me. Remember he was writing this at least seven months before the U.S. invasion of Iraq: As distasteful as the proposition may seem, to truly be a Full Spectrum force, ...

history.army.mil
history.army.mil
history.army.mil

Yesterday I was reading an old paper by Conrad Crane of the Army's Military Heritage Institute, when this passage on page 18 jumped out at me. Remember he was writing this at least seven months before the U.S. invasion of Iraq:

Yesterday I was reading an old paper by Conrad Crane of the Army’s Military Heritage Institute, when this passage on page 18 jumped out at me. Remember he was writing this at least seven months before the U.S. invasion of Iraq:

As distasteful as the proposition may seem, to truly be a Full Spectrum force, the Army must be prepared to deal with all aspects of a conflict resembling that lost war. This will necessitate reforms in training, doctrine, and force structure, as well as service acceptance of smaller-scale contingency missions including counterinsurgency and some degree of nation-building. The American Army can no longer run away from Vietnam. For it has found us in Afghanistan, Colombia, and the Philippines."

I think the last eight years have proven Dr. Crane quite prescient. We talk about who got it wrong so often that it is important to remember that some people got it right.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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