pass the kool aid

Pentagon says too many troops took part in Iraq operation

From think-tank analysts to angry retired generals to Capitol Hill lawmakers, it has become nearly universal conventional wisdom that the U.S. invasion force that conquered Iraq in 2003 lacked the manpower to secure the country after Saddam’s fall.

But the Pentagon’s civilian policymakers have learned a much different lesson. According to a senior civilian who played a crucial role in developing the just-released Quadrennial Defense Review, the problem with Operation Iraqi Freedom was not too few U.S. troops, but too many. [bold mine]

“You could have adopted a radically different concept of operations,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “You could have trained free forces in various parts of Iraq and over time they could have gained greater control of the country.

“We’ve heard a lot of calls with people saying they would like to have seen a much larger force, especially for stability tasks. ... What is in some ways just as interesting … is what if we had gone in with a much smaller force, but from the get-go leveraged the capabilities of the Iraqis?”

May I humbly suggest this radically different concept of operations for the war planners.