(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Second Guessing the US and Ukraine around materials and Bakhmut serves little purpose at the moment. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-04-07  

This isn’t gong to be a long article as I don’t have a lot of time today (or in recent days) to write. It’s hard to read articles or comments these days without hearing second guessing concerning either NATO’s provision of forces or Ukraine’s strategy around Bakhmut. A little bit is fine. We should always be questioning things in general. But it’s gotten to a point where it feels more like people just needing something to complain about than actual meant criticism.

One of the aspects of the US military that has always impressed me is a tradition of honest AARs (After Action Reports). The goal of an HONEST AAR is to learn. The military recognizes the temptation of leaders to cover up their actions with roses reports and so must walk a fine line between using them to hold individuals accountable, but also getting honest reporting in order to fully understand what happened to be able to learn lessons and the true state of things. People being people, the brutally honest part has never been perfect, but holding it as the ideal and goal is laudable. Noticeable times when the military didn’t do this would be the body counts of enemy soldiers in Viet Nam. Commanders were judged on enemy body counts giving them incentives to inaccurately report them.

In Ukraine, I see a lot of hand wringing regarding whether a tough defense at Bakhmut has been worth it. We simply can’t know at this time. Ukraine, rightly, keeps information secret to prevent it from helping the enemy. A true accounting won’t be possible until after the war (or far enough into the war that what is currently happening is no longer useful to the enemy). That said, for those who wish Ukraine pulled out of Bakhmut earlier I’d like to see your assessment of casualties had the Ukrainians followed your plan. If you are trading land for time and enemy dead, what land are you willing to give up? How many civilian casualties in the next town(s) are worth your strategy? If Kramatorsk is getting pounded by artillery is that better than the current situation? I’m not saying you’re wrong. Pulling back may be in Ukraine’s best interest. Perhaps the magically correct defensive position is just west of Bakhmut and everything would have been better had Ukraine pulled back to there. But prove it! Don’t just hand wring and fret. A little bit is fine, but we’ve heard your concern. Ukraine has committed to their coarse of action. If you have a strategy or information you can lay out to show a better path is still available, please show it! What are you waiting for?!

With regards to the “lateness” and numbers of western tanks getting to Ukraine, I’ve long been a proponent of getting them there as quickly as possible. But at this point, I’m laying off on the criticism. Could the tanks have arrived earlier? Possibly. By my rough count Fall of 2022 was a possibility IF everything had gone into FULL swing in April of 2022 (after the Russians were pushed back from Kyiv and the immediate threat was lessened a bit). However, that would have been remarkable for the defense departments of multiple different countries to all come around that quickly and would also have been contingent on Ukraine being able to get individuals off to those countries quickly. These two things sound easy when looked at from the outside. Far more difficult when you’re the one tasked with getting things organized.

Was I wrong to press for tanks so early? No, the point of my pressing for tanks was to encourage the countries to work on it as hard as they could. Which they might have. We won’t know for sure until after the war. But we have learned that the state of Leopards in European armies was not one of high readiness for most of their fleet. There simply isn’t enough Leopards for Ukraines needs and to serve the NATO countries as well. The Abrams was always my favorite in this simply due to more having been made. What through me off was the lack of exportable versions of the Abrams that were ready to go. We’ll eventually have enough for Ukraine, but that will take time.

I’m far from perfect in all my writings. So please don’t take this is a scolding. I’m living in a glass house. Please have some complaints. Please criticize away at times. But these two topics have been covered and won’t be resolved any time soon. So before complaining, simply ask what might be achieved and if you have anything to add. That’s all. Flame away! :)

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/7/2162634/-Second-Guessing-the-US-and-Ukraine-around-materials-and-Bakhmut-serves-little-purpose-at-the-moment

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/