Good observations in that article. When will part two come out?
IMHO leaving out politics makes it impossible to fully analyze military history. There has to be a cause for war. Armies don't just rise up and begin fighting. The armies fight because politicians send them for a reason. The reasons for sending them need not seem good ones or make sense, but to understand why a war happened it can only be understood by examining political climates of parties involved. Had the US done that adequately before engaging in the Iraq struggle I doubt we would have had ground troops there after it was verified the WMDs were gone and Saddam was not returning. Toppling Saddam was a good thing, giving Iraqis a chance to effect some change. Staying to police Iraq while employing the same ROEs as used in Vietnam was a big mistake. I realize we were once again avoiding the appearance of occupation, abuse and ultimately alienating the whole population.
I don't think it's needful for American students to suffer replacement of more useful knowledge with intricacies of Islam and Muslim politics and customs. Left alone, Islamic nations will implode through utter failure, inability to house and feed themselves. Failure is built in to Islam unless Islamists can rule the entire world and be in position to redistribute all available resources. That might sustain the 1.5 billion of them a decade, but once the resourcefulness of free people around the world dies off under Islamic oppression, even having access to all raw materials would fail them. They are takers, not contributors. They don't invent or improve concerning the modern world mindset. Ever since Muhammad they have spread Islam by the sword. They don't mind admitting that, explaining they only resort to the sword where people resist the teachings of Islam or inhibit their entry into a nation to teach it. That's really all Americans need to understand about them. Our children will witness the misery of an Islamic Europe and know to try to resist that if it isn't too late by then.
Jim
