LESSONS LEARNED

You may not know how serious the Army is about learning from experiences, good and bad.

This story discusses the After Action Report on combat operations in Iraq. It points to some strengths and some weaknesses for the Army to work on.

And this excerpt notes an ironic victim of the US's information operations.

Another apparent failure was the Army's "information operations," including the attempt to use propaganda to mold the battle and persuade Iraqis to surrender without a fight. Before the war, commanders expected mass surrenders like they had seen in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. But that didn't happen, perhaps because this invasion did not follow the sort of heavy bombing that helped sap Iraqi will in 1991.

"Frankly, with a few exceptions ... it is hard to make the case that U.S. efforts in the broad category of information operations produced any meaningful results," the study says. An ironic exception: One of the first "kills" of the war was scored by the information campaign, when a box of pamphlets fell unopened from an airplane and hit an Iraqi soldier.