Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
When Saigon fell, and the last Huey was pushed into the sea, Americans looked back with dismay on the foreign entanglements that had culminated in calamity. Those who cared to look ahead saw little prospect of war. Surely, they thought, the nation had learned from a war that had Read More …
Downing Reports: Training missions in foreign lands [I wrote this article on the training program in Iraq a little over seven years ago. The poor performance of Iraqi troops over the last year makes me think it is still relevant. BD.] In recent weeks we’ve seen numerous supporters of the war Read More …
Carter Malkasian, War Comes to Garmser: Thirty Years of Conflict on the Afghan Frontier. (London: C Hurst & Co Publishers; New York: Oxford University Press, 2013). Reviewed by Brian M Downing A government that is losing to an insurgency isn’t being out-fought, it’s being out-governed. – Bernard Fall In 1972, Read More …
Brian M Downing President Obama recently made a gaff by referring to a four-star flag officer as “General” McRaven. McRaven, in fact, is an admiral. For the president’s legions of foes, this underscores the president’s cluelessness regarding military matters. I presume they think that Bush the Younger and Cheney the Read More …
Brian M Downing President Obama has announced the withdrawal from Afghanistan of ten thousand US troops by the end of this year, with another twenty-three thousand to depart by the middle of 2012. Partisan politicians and the military will find this too steep and try to slow the pace, but Read More …
Brian M Downing Here was a new generation . . . grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken. – F Scott Fitzgerald Baghdad falls to US forces. – 2003 headline When Saigon fell and the last Huey was pushed overboard into the Read More …
Brian M Downing Films about wars have been part of the cinema since DW Griffith put scenes of the Civil War in Birth of a Nation (1915). There were thousands of veterans of that conflict still alive then and I’ll bet many of them didn’t like what they saw. Recently, Read More …
Counter-insurgency, then and now A Question of Command by Mark Moyar Reviewed by Brian M Downing In Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead, an operation on the fictional island of Anopopei comes to a successful conclusion, but owing to the campaign’s intricacies, no one is quite sure why. Headquarters writes a report Read More …
Brian M Downing Something hits me every time I see American troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Several World War Two veterans and fellow Vietnam veterans I know have the same reaction. It has nothing to do with the politics of the wars. It’s the uniforms of our soldiers today, the Read More …
Brian M Downing As the war in Iraq drags on, much as a previous American war did, one might be forgiven for wondering just how unpopular and seemingly inconclusive wars are ever brought to a close. Some thought on the Vietnam War might provide some insight. The Vietnam War, Read More …