Sir Carl Quote of the Week

**Shek** · 19 Feb 11,, 15:51

The next installment of the CvC quote of the week follows, and once again is from Book 1, Chapter 2 (page 92):

Originally Posted by CvC

... the original political objects can greatly alter during the course of the war and may finally change entirely since they are influenced by events and their probable consequences.

This one is a gem IMO. It highlights the fact that one must not become fixated on the original war aims. Thus, it defines that what starts off defining a "W" in the win-loss column is not necessarily what should define a "W" later on during the war. As two examples, the ACW morphed from the original war aim of preserving the Union to maintaining the Union and abolishing slavery, the root cause of secession. In Vietnam, the Nixon administration settled for a decent interval in exchange for triangulating the USSR and China to achieve broader foreign policy goals (I'd argue that the Vietnam War wasn't necessary to allow the US to do this, but it did create the conditions for an executive team with the vision to realign American foreign policy away from a monolithic view of communism to be elected).

In modern terms, it provides an argument against those who use the rhetoric of "winning" to solely define US war aims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

S2 · 19 Feb 11,, 19:55

"In modern terms, it provides an argument against those who use the rhetoric of "winning" to solely define US war aims in Iraq and Afghanistan."

It's in this context that I find the greatest value and relevance. A variation of CVC's dictum might be-

"... the original political objects can greatly alter during the course of the war and may finally [be rendered irrelevant] since they are influenced by events and their probably consequences."

Our objectives have morphed beyond our original mission to destroy those whom attacked us on 9/11. I'm not certain that mission has lost its importance but the compass directing our actions has absolutely swayed away from that bearing. It remains, however, on the lips (if not in the actions) of those who insist upon our continued presence in Afghanistan and engagement with Pakistan.

Pouring untold billions of dollars into Afghanistan and Pakistan has neither made America safer nor altered the political landscape of either country closer to an alignment with the west.

We need a serious rethink premised on CVC's above comment.