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The United States as a Self-Inflicted Wound

Rationalization & denial as self-inflicted wounds.

Center for Strategic and International Studies

The Long War: The United States as a Self-Inflicted Wound

Author: Anthony H. Cordesman
Date of Publication: March 13, 2007
Related Research Focus: Defense Policy
Experts : Anthony H. Cordesman
Synopsis: Key Self-Inflicted Wounds

   * Fight long wars with short term, partial and inadequate solutions.

* Underestimate risks, benefits, options like diplomacy, containment, deterrence.

* Fight the war we want, rather than the war we face: No real strategy for conflict termination and grand strategy.

* Deny the scale and nature of civil tensions and conflict: Sectarian, ethnic, tribal, economic, and governance.

* Confuse counterinsurgency with stability operations and nation building.

* Ethnocentricity: âDemocracyâ versus governance and local culture, and values.

* Underestimate the resources required and under-react as crisis or conflict develops.

* Deny the seriousness of the situation as it develops to Congress, American people, and ourselves.

In Full (PDF): http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/0703_longwar_selfinflict.pdf

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