| Description |
vi, 56 pages ; 23 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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computer c rdamedia |
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online resource cr rdacarrier |
| System Details |
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. |
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Mode of access: Internet from the SSI web site. |
| Note |
Title from title screen (viewed Jan. 15, 2004). |
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"December 2003." |
| File Type |
Electronic book. |
| Form |
Also issued in paper format. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references. |
| Summary |
In the wake of the September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States, the U.S. Government declared a global war on terrorism (GWOT). The nature and parameters of that war, however, remain frustratingly unclear. The administration has postulated a multiplicity of enemies, including rogue states; weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferators; terrorist organizations of global, regional, and national scope; and terrorism itself. It also seems to have confl ated them into a monolithic threat, and in so doing has subordinated strategic clarity to the moral clarity it strives for in foreign policy and may have set the United States on a course of open-ended and gratuitous confl ict with states and nonstate entities that pose no serious threat to the United States. Of particular concern has been the confl ation of al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein2s Iraq as a single, undifferentiated terrorist threat. This was a strategic error of the fi rst order because it ignored critical differences between the two in character, threat level, and susceptibility to U.S. deterrence and military action. The result has been an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deterred Iraq that has created a new front in the Middle East for Islamic terrorism and diverted attention and resources away from securing the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al-Qaeda. The war against Iraq was not integral to the GWOT, but Additionally, most of the GWOT2s declared objectives, which include the destruction of al-Qaeda and other transnational terrorist organizations, the transformation of Iraq into a prosperous, stable democracy, the democratization of the rest of the autocratic Middle East, the eradication of terrorism as a means of irregular warfare, and the (forcible, if necessary) termination of WMD proliferation to real and potential enemies worldwide, are unrealistic and condemn the United States to a hopeless quest for absolute security. As such, the GWOT2s goals are also politically, fi scally, and militarily unsustainable. Accordingly, the GWOT must be recalibrated to conform to concrete U.S. security interests and the limits of American power. The specific measures required include deconfl ation of the threat; substitution of credible deterrence for preventive war as the primary vehicle for dealing with rogue states seeking WMD; refocus of the GWOT fi rst and foremost on al-Qaeda, its allies, and homeland security; preparation to settle in Iraq for stability over democracy (if the choice is forced upon us) and for international rather than U.S. responsibility for Iraq2s future; and fi nally, a reassessment of U.S. military force levels, especially ground force levels. The GWOT as it has so far been defi ned and conducted is strategically unfocused, promises much more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate scarce U.S. military and other means over too many ends. It violates the fundamental strategic principles of discrimination and concentration. |
| Access |
Use copy Restrictions unspecified star MiAaHDL |
| Reproduction |
Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library, 2011. MiAaHDL |
| System Details |
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL |
| Processing Action |
digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL |
| Subject |
War on Terrorism (2001-2009) (OCoLC)fst01754980
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War on Terrorism, 2001-2009.
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Terrorism -- United States -- Prevention.
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Combat sustainability (Military science)
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National security -- United States.
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Combat sustainability (Military science) (OCoLC)fst00868949
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National security. (OCoLC)fst01033711
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Terrorism -- Prevention.
(OCoLC)fst01148123
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
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| Chronological Term |
2001-2009
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| Added Author |
Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute.
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| Other Form: |
Record, Jeffrey. Bounding the global war on terrorism vi, 56 p. (OCoLC)53969451 |
| ISBN |
1584871466 |
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9781584871460 |
| Gpo Item No. |
0307-A-08 (online) |
| Sudoc No. |
D 101.146:2004010151 |
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