An article on today's Strategy Page caught my eye:
Leadership: Lessons From A Century Of Army Building
'Iraq is not the first time the U.S. has helped a third world nation build a new army from scratch. It was done earlier in Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, South Korea and the Philippines. All of these efforts resulted in more effective forces, and those nations acquired useful military traditions that persist to the present. But none of them became close of the U.S. military in capability. The problem was that all of them were heavily influenced by the local culture, and usually not for the better. All of the Latin American forces spent most of their time propping up military dictators'.
So..............how many military dictators have we had, precisely? See, I thought I knew the answer to this but having read this article..............
Leadership: Lessons From A Century Of Army Building
'Iraq is not the first time the U.S. has helped a third world nation build a new army from scratch. It was done earlier in Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, South Korea and the Philippines. All of these efforts resulted in more effective forces, and those nations acquired useful military traditions that persist to the present. But none of them became close of the U.S. military in capability. The problem was that all of them were heavily influenced by the local culture, and usually not for the better. All of the Latin American forces spent most of their time propping up military dictators'.
So..............how many military dictators have we had, precisely? See, I thought I knew the answer to this but having read this article..............