The Independent (London) has a good summary of what should be obvious to anyone reading between the lines of the various statements made by the Pentagon about that much-hyped Ranger raid into Afghanistan — it was almost a disaster.
Lisa and I were talking about this on Friday, concluding that U.S. military policy often seems predicated on the assumption that American will always facing idiots and morons in the field (presumably, Pentagon bureacrats using what they known as models for opposing forces).
For example, the United States over the last few weeks has received yet another lesson about the limitations of air power, and yet the Pentagon is still going forward with 3,000 new Joint Strike Fighter jets at a price take of almost $70 million a piece before the inevitable cost over-runs.
Source:
Lockheed Wins $200B Jet Fighter Contract. Fox News, October 27, 2001.