Peters On The Real Mistakes

"Historically, the common denominator of successful counterinsurgency operations is that only an uncompromising military approach works — not winning hearts and minds nor a negotiated compromise. This runs counter to our politically correct worldview, but the historical evidence is incontestable.

Simply because the truth is hateful to us doesn't mean that we can declare it false.

We have entered a grim new age in which we must cope simultaneously with a return to old-fashioned wars of blood and belief, with the fatally flawed borders left behind by European imperialism, with the destabilizing effects of the information age on traditional societies, and with the explosion of our cherished myths about the pacific nature of humankind.

There were many things we failed to understand about Iraq, but our comprehensive mistake has been failing to understand our place in history."