The "timetable" trap
In his response to the President's speech on the war in Iraq, Sen. Kerry tried to explain the Democrats plan for defeat in Iraq as a plan for success. What Kerry claims they are asking for is a time table with specific goals to be achieved by specific dates. This shows a profound ignorance of warfare. As Clausewitz pointed out war is not like other enterprises because you have a thinking enemy who is actively working to thwart your objectives. By giving a timetable, you give the enemy a specific goal of thwarting your objective. A specific timetable is just another way for the Democrats to declare defeat if the objective is not met. That is exactly the metric that the Democrats are interested in.
In his response to the President's speech on the war in Iraq, Sen. Kerry tried to explain the Democrats plan for defeat in Iraq as a plan for success. What Kerry claims they are asking for is a time table with specific goals to be achieved by specific dates. This shows a profound ignorance of warfare. As Clausewitz pointed out war is not like other enterprises because you have a thinking enemy who is actively working to thwart your objectives. By giving a timetable, you give the enemy a specific goal of thwarting your objective. A specific timetable is just another way for the Democrats to declare defeat if the objective is not met. That is exactly the metric that the Democrats are interested in.
Comments
Post a Comment