Editorial: Wars yield tragic lessons

Saturday, Aug. 19, 2006 | 7:27 a.m.

Within weeks of having fought their way into Baghdad, U.S. troops and their commanders considered all of Iraq conquered. But from this initial victory in April 2003 arose a bloody and ongoing insurgency.

How could the U.S. have lost so much control over a country that it thought was defeated?

Why did so many Iraqi civilians begin hating us after we had overthrown their tormenter, Saddam Hussein? What drove so many people to join an insurgency that has cost the lives of more than 2,600 American troops?

Critics of the war have their answers to these important questions. Now the Pentagon, in a tacit admission that grave mistakes were made at the command levels, is undertaking studies to arrive at official answers. The Boston Globe this week reported that the studies, which include an examination of our tactics and strategies in Afghanistan, would be used in revamped training courses for commanders.

The newspaper also spoke confidentially with one of the studies' authors, who was quoted as saying, "The results won't be pretty."

According to the Globe, the author said mistakes in both wars included using too much force in predominantly civilian areas, not acting expediently to establish working relationships with local allies and failing to provide adequate security for civilians.

It is a tragedy that the war in Iraq - lacking the urgency of our response in Afghanistan - was ordered before conventionally trained commanders had a better grasp of urban warfare and Iraqi culture. Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died, and hope of fulfilling all of our war's objectives are fading.

The Pentagon is doing now what it should have done long before our invasion - totally revamping its curriculum at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., to prepare commanders for the realities of modern warfare.

After 9/11, President Bush said he understood the way that wars are fought today. Yet his administration waited until the mistakes of Iraq were painfully obvious to begin new training regimens for the ones who must fight them.