An Epidemic of 'Victory Disease'

"Strategy is about matching the instruments of national power-and especially military force-to the goals of national policy. The president and his team, however, have not enunciated an overarching goal for this war-or, more accurately, they have presented multiple goals and chosen among them almost randomly, depending on the day or the hour."

"This kind of thinking is an old problem, and it has a name: "victory disease," meaning that victory in battle encourages leaders to seek out more battles, and then to believe that winning those battles means that they are winning the larger war or achieving some grand strategic aim-right up until the moment they realize that they have overreached."

"Worse, Donald Trump is now pointing to these missions as if the excellence with which they have been conducted somehow constitutes a strategy in itself. He appears so enthralled by the execution of these missions that he has enlarged the goals of this war to include the complete destruction of the Iranian regime."

The United States military demonstrates exceptional professional competence in executing complex operations, from special operations to large-scale warfare. However, the Trump administration's approach to the Iran conflict reveals strategic incompetence. Strategy requires aligning military force with clear national policy goals, yet the administration has presented multiple, often contradictory objectives chosen inconsistently. Military excellence operates within a strategic vacuum. The administration conflates tactical success with strategic achievement, with Trump celebrating military operations as if they constitute strategy itself. This reflects "victory disease," a historical pattern where battlefield success encourages leaders to expand war objectives beyond original scope, ultimately leading to overreach and potential military disaster.

Read at The Atlantic