War is not about rifles/tanks thrown into the fray. It's about logistics to support them (with bullets, with manpower and materiel replacements) … and, after the shooting stops, planning and investing in how to create a political and social structure that will then keep what has been fought for going and successful.
It's that last bit that the Bush administration blitheley ignored in their attack on Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Army had to pay the consequence. And it's what's missing in the handwaving "Send in the Marines" solutions to the Da'esh problem. Or, as the article puts it: 'Hurling low ball figures without considering the mathematics of war is not rendering sound military advice, it is chasing sound bites and re-tweets.'
10,000 Won’t Do It: The Mathematics of an American Deployment to Fight ISIL
Since followers of the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have launched a succession of attacks in Paris, Sen Bernardino, Indonesi
