Sorry JJ not much we disagree on but I got that too. Stupid thickie Brits did Sweet FA except hunker down in their FOB's for years until the good old USofA showed those limey pricks something. It even brags about Body Counts. It is little removed from the stuff that has been leaked by the US State department about how terrible we Brits are. I'm all for learning from mistakes, and am a big fan of saving both British and American lives. But as we both know this report mentions nothing about problems the Brits have faced and the US has to face in upcomming fighting seasons, except in an overwhelming "We're on the ball" or "Its all the fault of Karzai, the British and the ISI".
The report comes up with some deep thoughts like "The Cops are corrupt which caused problems with the locals". No! Who'd have thunk it. Mentioning not a jot about the Brits trying to get rid of them years ago but being blocked by the US State department to whom Karzai was "Their man". The ISI is a problem, without mentioning who backed the assholes for decades. Or the fact that the US government got snooty about us hiring ex Taliban and stopped the Brits from doing it in Helmand, whilst doing exactly the same in Iraq and suddenly discovering Kit Carson scouts all over again now in Afghanistan. I could go on.
There's a couple of things to take out of this report. But if this is getting distributed to the USMC in Helmand, I hope it is printed out of paper that's soft, strong and thoroughly absorbant.