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Mullen: It's Still A Pig
It doesn't matter how much lipstick you put on it, apparently:
“To put it simply, we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate,” Admiral Mullen wrote in the critique, an essay to be published Friday by Joint Force Quarterly, an official military journal.
“I would argue that most strategic communication problems are not communication problems at all,” he wrote. “They are policy and execution problems. Each time we fail to live up to our values or don’t follow up on a promise, we look more and more like the arrogant Americans the enemy claims we are.”
JFQ doesn't have the essay online yet, and I can't find this YouTube video Shanker is writing about. There's a video of some pirates stone cold fighting the U.S. Navy, though.
"Forward looking Infrared
"Forward looking Infrared Radar?" I guess the official military press isn't much better than the regular press.
Very surprised and pleased
Very surprised and pleased to hear Mullen say this. There is a huge Strategic Communications/ PD industry and its good to at least hear that Mullen doesn't drink the Kool Aid.
Agree with his point, as
Agree with his point, as long as we keep it in perspective-- that there ARE very real propaganda efforts against effective military operations in asymmetric warfare situations, and that they do have to be countered on their own terms sometimes. Not killing civilians might be the best strategy in winning the IO war, but almost as important is not giving the enemy the opportunity to make bullshit claims even when you don't, or when you're forced to and they have an easy time blowing it out of proportion for recruitment purposes.
Uhmm, if that was a pirate
Uhmm, if that was a pirate ship that fired on a U.S. helicopter then why isn't that ship and it's entire crew not sitting on the bottom of the ocean right now?
Meanwhile, controlling the
Meanwhile, controlling the message still seems to be the goal...
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/08/pentagon-reconsiders-war-reporte...
Wait a moment - Dunkirk was
Wait a moment - Dunkirk was a disaster, but it's remembered as a great victory in terms of emotion and fight on....
Tet was a disaster that lost the VC their war, and cost the Communists very dearly. Yet it's remembered as the "turning point in the war" because it turned the Press and then the public against it. At least enough of the public to make the crucial difference.
Elf: Tet also provided the
Elf:
Tet also provided the opportunity for Westmoreland's replacement, General Abrams, to shift priority to pacification because the VC did not pose the same threat to pacification efforts after Tet because of their reduction. The Coin Community's view of the history of the Vietnam War, however, downplays this important fact and instead highlights the notion that Abrams made the shift because of his enlightened views toward population centric coin. Not true, nor is it true at all that Westmoreland didn’t get Coin because he did. And further, once Abrams took command, the idea that he embraced Galula so much that he shifted on a dime the American tactical and operational approach is simply nonsense. In fact when Abrams was in command he fired more artillery in South Vietnam than Westmoreland did and he often quipped that his mobile reserve were his fleet of B52s.
Ding. Kind of self-evident
Ding. Kind of self-evident but needs to be stated regardless.
Mullen its still pig.. Great!
Mullen its still pig.. Great! :)
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