Instead of discussions to clarify who US forces were fighting and how the United States intended to apply national power to defeat those enemies and achieve sustainable outcomes, public debate focused on the means—such as the numbers of troops committed. For example, during the war in Iraq there was continuous debate over means and resources but little discussion of the elements of the strategy, such as, how to move Iraq’s increasingly polarized communities toward political accommodation; how to build capable and legitimate Iraqi security forces; how to reduce insurgent freedom of movement;
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