Tactics of the Crescent Moon

I have seen a lot of these type books/articles of late--on military tactics (how to win or how not to lose). Anyway--this one brings up the idea of 'moral disadvantage" which I have not really noticed before.
Yet at the same time--this book--as well as others of this type fail to mention if we should be there (Iraq) in the first place.



"Seeing clearly the moral disadvantages that massive use of American firepower brings, he notes how good small units....."

"http://www.washingtondispatch.com/printer_10537.shtml"

Tactics of the Crescent Moon
by William S. Lind
by William S. Lind

.......Part Three of Tactics of the Crescent Moon offers his prescription for how U.S. forces should act. As in his other books, Poole stresses small-unit tactics and techniques. Seeing clearly the moral disadvantages that massive use of American firepower brings, he notes how good small units – true light infantry, which America sadly lacks – can win without the vast collateral damage and civilian casualties that work against us. The keys are high levels of small unit autonomy and far better peacetime training, training that permits experimentation and adaptation rather than forcing everyone into a cookie-cutter sameness.

For those who want to learn, Tactics of the Crescent Moon is an invaluable resource. The question is whether the U.S. military can learn and adapt. At the small unit level, it can, when it is allowed to do so. The problem is that, typical of a Second Generation military, the U.S. armed forces must bear the burden of a vast, centralized, bureaucratic command structure that has little interest in adaptation. Populated with rafts of modern major generals who cannot tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin, but know all too well how to grab more bucks for irrelevant high-tech weapons, our headquarters resemble the British at Gallipoli more than the Turks. The result is likely to be more flattened Iraqi cities like Falluja, more victories on the moral level for our opponents, and in the end, ignominious withdrawal and defeat. Now, if we could just convert all those headquarters and their staffs into mine-clearing platoons…

is THE tactic of Imperialism. I guess you could mail some copies of Crescent Moon to the troops. They need all the help the Pentagon won't ever give them. Oh, does the book teach any universal language? I heard those checkpoints went FUBAR due to the fact of misunderstanding hand signals. cultural differences are significant.