The Australian Senior Officer Professional Digest provides a quick overview of recent military journal articles for today’s officer on the go. The June issue had an article synopsis that caught my eye. In Stability Operations in Strategic Perspective — A Skeptical View professor Colin Gray (Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies, University of Reading) criticizes the latest US QDR, and outlines his concerns in eight points. From the SOPD:
- The United States is currently “Ëœthe only possible principal guardian of global order’ — hegemons are necessary, and sometimes their role and mission is to enact change that others are unable or unwilling to.
- The US reputation is crucial to maintaining international order and this credibility must not be squandered.
- The espoused ideology of “Ëœfreedom’ based on simplistic definitions of “Ëœgood or evil’ is apt to mislead US policies and public opinion, especially in identifying threats or courses of action.
- The American way of war is linear, ahistorical and regular””?based in aggressive action and high technology””?and thus not well suited to counterterrorism and counterinsurgency.
- The central thesis of the QDR, the “Ëœlong war of global domain against violent extremists who resort to terrorism’, is wrong and shortsighted.
- Nationalism against US hegemony is a greater risk than religious fanaticism. “ËœThe Arab, even the Islamic, realm may well be ready to benefit from less corrupt government and more democracy, but beneficial reforms can be effected only from within those societies by local effort’.
- Stability operations are integral to warfighting and counterterrorism/counterinsurgency, not a separate matter. “ËœThe primary object in counterinsurgency is protection of the public, not the military defeat of terrorist-insurgents.’
- Technology is not the panacea the QDR represents””?people and their attitude are far more important.
Pay attention to points 3, 4, 6, 7 and of course 8. This is also reminiscent of Chris Coker’s ideas on the Long War.
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COMMENTS / 7 COMMENTS
Lexington Green added these pithy words on 31 Jul 06 at 12:38 amWay cool. The SOPD is a great find.
Now for a 37 hour day and a nine day week and an extra head to read everything.
lirelou added these pithy words on 31 Jul 06 at 7:04 amBrilliantly depressing.
IJ added these pithy words on 31 Jul 06 at 9:41 amGlobal rule sets? If the global community can ever agree what rule sets are necessary, the community then needs to be able to enforce them against all nations. The lack of enforcement is a fundamental flaw in the current rules – the UN Charter; and will surely be in any rule-sets in the future.
As a result, we are seeing ad-hoc rules, without adequate support.
staypuftman added these pithy words on 31 Jul 06 at 6:18 pmI find points 2 and 3 very interesting because it seems like each side of this battle is trying to gain support through symantic shananigans. I just dont know how long people will buy that cover.
Mi-Hwa added these pithy words on 01 Aug 06 at 5:14 amProfessor Colin Gray’s analysis can help explain why the Iraq Occupation has been a failure.
American troops are unable to solve the many problems in Iraq. The soldiers are in a situation that is over their heads.
Also, the Bush Admin. and the Pentagon are unable to put together a successful policy for Iraq.
Elgunjduts added these pithy words on 01 Aug 06 at 7:22 amIf the world is dependent on American Hegemony and it’s Reputation the world is in some deep shit. The Bush Administration has not a clue how to run their graft successfully how are they going to run the world. The Bushies foreign policy seems to consist of wapping the Bees ness till it all falls down. Its all good for the endtimers but where does that leave the rest of us.
Kirk H. Sowell added these pithy words on 01 Aug 06 at 9:23 amIt seems that you didn’t provide a link to the QDR itself. Here it is:
Quadrennial Defense Review Report
Mi-Hwa:
I don’t think that American soldiers are in over their heads, but they have lacked a broader framework in which complete victory can be acheived. By that I mean that at the operational level U.S. troops have peformed very well, and the jihadists began focusing on suicide bombings in early 2005 after the Marines cut them to pieces in Faluja and the rest of the Anbar. They haven’t done much of anything (successfully) other than attacks on civilians and IED attacks (roadside boobytraps) on troops.The problems arose, in my view, because of the disaster of the Coalition Provisional Authority – L. Paul Bremer’s ‘Year in Iraq’ – and the need to create a new political system and military from scratch. I don’t think that in any country you can do that faster than we have done it in Iraq, the problem is that we should have started in April 2003 rather than Nov. 2004.
Now we finally have a permanent elected government in place, and an Iraqi army that is feeling its roots. We’re just making up for lost time, and that has cost us, and the Iraqis, a lot.
Elgunjduts: Thank you for your eloquent exposition on this complex topic. Your webname befits you.
