Today I attended the premiere screening of the Institute for the Study of War's documentary "The Surge- The untold story" which can be viewed in it's entirety at the link (click on Screening room). It's very well made and does an excellent job of reminding you just how bad things were and how much went into the amazing turnaround. It featured interviews w/ most of the major players incl. Gen. Petraeus, Amb. Crocker and many of the combatant commanders involved. I was interesting to think back to when this plan was being developed and discussed and see how many parallels there are to right now and the situation in Afghanistan. While there are stark differences between the two countries and conflicts, many of the basic arguments are the same. After the screening there was a panel to discuss the Surge and take a few questions featuring: Gen. Jack Keane (ret.) who was a proponent and architect of the Surge strategy Kim Kagan who runs ISW and recently served on Gen. McChrystal's review of the Afghan situation. Gen. Jim Dubik (ret.) who commanded MNI-STCI which was the group that trained all the Iraq security forces. While the US combat brigades that created the surge are the usual focus, Gen. Dubik's command trained and fielded 125,000 Iraqi Army and National Police in 15 months providing the vital indigenous element. COL Dave Sutherland who commanded the Brigade in Diyala Province with the most diverse tribal population in Iraq during the Surge. Michael Gordon a NY Times reporter who was embedded w/ multiple units during the Surge. There were many factors that led to our success in Iraq and many of the lessons learned there can be applied to the Afghan war. It is chilling to consider defeat at the hands of al Qaeda and the Taliban and the resulting recruiting and fundraising bonanza that would give them. The President's long over due answer on Afghanistan, seems to be getting closer and I hope it gives our commanders the resources they need to win. Here is the trailer for the film Understanding the Surge - The Trailer from ISW on Vimeo.
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Posted
Nov 09 2009, 05:08 AM
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