Ms. West laughs off counterinsurgency theory because it is not convenient to her worldview. She makes a false analogy to Nazi German, but ignores more recent historical examples that better match the situation in Afghanistan. She ignores the more instructive examples of British success in Malaya (where they pursued a counterinsurgency policy very much like that of Petreaus, McChrystal, and Chiarelli), or the failure of the French in North Africa pursuing a more traditional strategy.

Even more telling was our own experience in Vietnam. Westmorland’s fault was not “tying the troop’s hands.” Westmorland’s mistake was trying to fight a conventional, World War II/Korea style war and ignoring the population dimension. The...

Ms. West laughs off counterinsurgency theory because it is not convenient to her worldview. She makes a false analogy to Nazi German, but ignores more recent historical examples that better match the situation in Afghanistan. She ignores the more instructive examples of British success in Malaya (where they pursued a counterinsurgency policy very much like that of Petreaus, McChrystal, and Chiarelli), or the failure of the French in North Africa pursuing a more traditional strategy.

Even more telling was our own experience in Vietnam. Westmorland’s fault was not “tying the troop’s hands.” Westmorland’s mistake was trying to fight a conventional, World War II/Korea style war and ignoring the population dimension. The...

It is difficult to understand what part of Ms. West’s rant is more obnixous – her complete lack of historical knowledge, her ignorant attack on GEN McChrystal, or her complete lack of understanding of the current situation on the ground in Afghanistan. All together lead to tortured logic and absurd conclusions.

Comparing Afghanistan to German is a false analogy. The Second World War was a total war in which the world's most powerful nation states mobilized their entire population and industrial might, from the soldier in the field to the women working in the ball bearing factory in Frankfurt or Detroit.

Afghanistan and Iraq are quite different. Perhaps Ms. West has not noticed, but insurgents do not always attack in...