Defesa

A ler, um documento de "Defensa Science Board" do Pentagono, que mostra uma reflexão prática e realista da história e as lições a tirar, e que mostra que os militares têm essencialmente uma atitude prudente ponderada e são os politicos (nos últimos tempos intoxicados intelectualmente pela ideologia wishfull-thinking-neo-conservador) que induzem ao piores erros de análise para quem quer assumir os custos de ser o bom império.

Defense Science Board 2004 Summer Study on Transition To and From Hostilities

PART I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ......................................................... 3
Chapter 1: Introduction........................................................................3
Chapter 2:Panama Case Study: “Just Cause” and “Blind
Logic”...............................................................................................7
Chapter 3: Israel in Lebanon 1982-2000 ...........................................20
Chapter 4: French in Algeria .............................................................26
Chapter 5: Experiences Post WWI and WWII ................................33
Chapter 6: British Presence in Iraq and the Middle East,
1914-1922 .......................................................................................41
Chapter 7: Post Reconstruction: The American Civil War............53
Chapter 8: The Roman Experience ...................................................59
Chapter 9: Lessons of History ...........................................................63
PART II. POSTCONFLICT ACTIVITIES ...................................................... 83
Executive Summary............................................................................83
Chapter 1. Introduction......................................................................93
Chapter 2. An Effective Process for Government-Wide
S&R Operations ............................................................................99
Chapter 3. Empower Department of State ....................................107
Chapter 4. Enhance Department of Defense Capabilities
for S&R Operations ....................................................................115

Um destaque da página 74 (via antiwar blog):

"The only way to understand the motivations of an opponent is by having a real understanding of the historical and religious framework that has molded his culture. It is clear that Americans who waged the war and who have attempted to mold the aftermath have had no clear idea of the framework that has molded the personalities and attitudes of Iraqis. Finally, it might help if Americans and their leaders were to show less arrogance and more understanding of themselves and their place in history. Perhaps more than any other people, Americans display a consistent amnesia concerning their own past, as well as the history of those around them."