Sunday, May 12, 2013

Research Note


Research Note




Since the World Wars and the Cold War warfare has shifted dramatically. So drastically American has experienced the worst attack on her homeland; the 9/11 attacks. Since the 9/11 attacks, America and the World have seen the rise of a new and effective warfare that has been unstoppable to conventional forces. As we have seen in Vietnam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan. You can call this new warfare terrorist, non-state actors, guerrilla fighters or some other name that would fit the description, but they are almost indefinable.

The United States of America has been a major player in the war all over the world and for the last sixty years have lead the world in military advancement. Since we fought for our independence America has not seen defeat except in our enemy up until the Vietnam War and now the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. One can argue America did not lose in Vietnam or America is not losing in Afghanistan currently, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is America saw a shift in the result of these two wars; it was no clear victory for America like it has been in the past.

Strategy, tactics, moral, technology, and manpower are all important and necessary to fight a war, however, arguably, I feel America doesn’t understand or know how to deal with our enemies particularly unconventional forces such as the Vietcong, Taliban, or typical tribal and insurgency groups. How do you put your finger on a group that denies the laws of war? How do you conduct diplomacy with a group that has no official diplomats? How do you negotiate with terrorist groups that ignore borders and believe that your country should no longer exist? America failure to develop strategies and techniques to handle these complex insurgent groups, terrorist organizations, and militant tribal groups such as the Taliban proves to be the problem. David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgent expert, lays it down perfectly, “ that while many classical counterinsurgency techniques apply to modern conflicts, in overall terms we face a transfigured form of hybrid warfare that renders many of our traditional ideas irrelevant” (xvii).

David Kilcullen, a native Australian and former advisor to General David Patraeus in Iraq and to the NATO Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, currently serves as a consultant to the U.S. Government. He wrote a book called The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in The Midst of a Big One. In this book Kilcullen “uncovers the face of modern warfare, illuminating both the global challenge (the “War on Terrorism”) and small wars across the World” (back of book).  And he has some answers to our questions above. Kilcullen recommends we change our paradigm and our policy to help the problem. The number one shift that should take place according to Kilcullen is a vocabulary change. He mentions, “professor Michael Vlahos has pointed out that the language we use to describe the new treats actively hinders innovative thought” (295) For example, our terminology for these groups or organization are negative in nature. Unconventional, nonstate, irregular forces all describe the enemy but give them a description of what they are not rather than what they actually are. Instead of approaching diplomacy with these organizations in an international relations mindset and terminology, Kilcullen recommends we us an anthropology approach, which we would understand their culture, social relationships, and institution within their society. A diplomat educated in a particular culture and language would greatly benefit the relationship between the two actors (Kilcullen, 296).

Secondly, Kilcullen recommends using an element of soft power. He mentions that the majority of our spending goes to the Military whereas we should be investing in nonmilitary “elements of national power”, such as “private sector economic strength, national reputation, and cultural confidence”. Our military can only achieve so much and often faces obstacles that military bureaucracy cannot overcome.  There is an imbalance of our military and nonmilitary abilities, therefore hindering America to achieve whatever she sets out to do. Think about it, America’s “Defense Department is about 210 time larger than the U.S Agency for international Development and State Department combined” (Kilcullen, 298). Now put yourself in the shoes of an enemy of the United States, do you get the feeling that America wants to collaborate and fix the problem or just use force unilaterally to overcome the problem?

Kilcullen, as an outsider (Australian) sees the problem from the outside and make great sense of the tangled mess. As one planning to go into the military, it is hard to overcome my own opinions and realize our military is not the solution to every problem on the international scale. Kilcullen says he does not discredit the military and its capabilities, he being an officer in the Australian military himself, but he warns that the imbalance could be harmful and give the wrong impression. Kilcullen is an source for information dealing with the future of warfare and transforming our military  and non military into a capable force to confront our enemies.

Kilcullen, David. The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.

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