Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 12

victory without sustainment is a recipe for defeat, and
we may be on the path to defeat.
For the proper context to understand why, it is
necessary to recognize that sustaining over time the
physical and moral ground gained in war to achieve
victory stems mainly from political decisions. But,
in order for the political leadership to make the
necessary commitments, they must be thoroughly
informed and familiar with the requirements to
achieve victory as well as the consequences of failing
to do so. Moreover, they (especially our commander
in chief ) must have the will to direct what is necessary. This raises some salient questions: Has our
military leadership been honest in its assessments
with our political leadership with regard to what
was really needed to achieve victory against IS?
And, have our commanders in chief taken to heart
and given credence to what the nation’s military and
diplomatic leaders have advised them is necessary to
do? It is incumbent upon readers to judge for themselves the adequacy of answers to those questions as
they pertain to recent wars, including the one we are
now engaged against IS.

With the above as context, the real questions I
wanted to be asked during my testimony—questions I
believe should have been of singular concern for those
in and out of uniform—are these: Do we know how to
win wars anymore? And, do we still have what it takes?
Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that the answers
for both are that we probably don’t.

A Hard Epiphany
As a nation, our inability to win wars stems mainly from
having lost sight of what it means to win and of the vital
importance in doing so in our own interests. As a result, we
now participate in war simply because we can, often as a
result of what might be viewed critically as merely high-level
political whims dressed up in high-sounding rhetoric. Many
factors have produced this situation. First, because we went
away from a draft Army, the broad American community has lost the personal stake it once had in any political
decision to go to war, and, as a result, many Americans have
lost true appreciation or concern for the real human costs
involved in war. Instead, many Americans view the Army
as little more than a highly respected mercenary force, one
that many politicians have come to view as an impersonal

(Photo by Associated Press)

Demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State slogans 16 June 2014 as they carry the Islamic State flag in front of the provincial government
headquarters in Mosul, Iraq.
10

March-April 2016  MILITARY REVIEW