Military Review back issues from September 2007:
Learning from our modern wars: the imperatives of preparing for a dangerous future.
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government. SINCE RETURNING from my second tour in Iraq in December 2006, I have had time to ...
Iraq: tribal engagement lessons learned.(Essay)
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES--overt interactions between coalition military and foreign civilian personnel for the purpose of obtaining information, influencing behavior, or building an indigenous base of support for coalition objectives--have played a central ...
Fighting "the other war" counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, 2003- 2005.
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Strategy without Tactics is the slowest road to Victory. Tactics without Strategy is the noise before Defeat.--Sun Yzu The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the ...
Linking doctrine to action: a new coin center-of-gravity analysis.(counterinsurgency operations)
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JUST AS THERE IS no one weapon that guarantees superiority in conventional warfare, there is no silver bullet when it comes to counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. Field Manual 3-24, Counterinsurgency, provides a firm doctrinal foundation, as corroborated ...
The man who bent events: "King John" in Indochina.(French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny)
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A distinguished general is asked to assume command of an undersized military force fighting a counterinsurgency war widely criticized by opposition political leaders and broadly unpopular among his countrymen, and to do so with relatively limited resources ...
A logical method for center-of-gravity analysis.
Sep 01, 2007; ... LARGELY DUE TO its enigmatic nature, the center of gravity (COG) determination process has always been considered more of an art than a science. But even art has rules and structures that can turn chaotic sounds into language and language into poetry. Currently, the COG determination ...
Medical diplomacy in full-spectrum operations.
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AMERICAN MEDICINE is a powerful "weapon of freedom" in our Nation's arsenal against terrorists and the forces of oppression. (l) However, tailgate medicine, as commonly practiced by many well-meaning medical civil-assistance programs (MEDCAPs), is not an ...
The economic instrument of national power and military operations: a focus on IRAQ.
Sep 01, 2007; ... WITH ONE EXCEPTION--the post-World War II Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Germany and Japan-Winston Churchill's statement was prophetic in describing American post-war experiences. It has proven particularly true of the current war with Iraq. In its pursuits of national ...
Lessons learned from the recent war in Lebanon.(Essay)
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PART I: Musings on War in General 1. Every war has its particular weapons. Every war has its own competing powers and military structures, and its own unique circumstances. Every war gives birth to new military thought. (1) Just as general ...
After Fidel: what future for U.S.-Cuban relations?(Fidel Castro)(Report)
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Latin America always seems on the verge of something historic, always teetering between possibility and failure. (1) DESPITE THE END of the cold war over two decades and intractable post-9/11 security challenges, when it comes to Cuba, U.S ....
I Grow a White Rose/Cultivo Una Rosa Blanca.(Poem)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2007; ... <Pre> I GROW A WHITE ROSE (CULTIVO UNA ROSA BLANCA) I grow a white rose,In June as in January,For my true friendWho gives me his honest hand. And for the cruel man who tears from meThe heart with which I live,Thistle nor thorn do I grow:I grow ...
Battling terrorism under the law of war.(Viewpoint essay)
Sep 01, 2007; ... THE WAR ON TERRORISM began with the atrocities of i1 September 2001. Approximately 3,000 Americans, as well as citizens of other countries, tragically died that day at the Pentagon, the World Trade Center, and in a field in Pennsylvania. The world now knows that the perpetrator of that ...
Chile and Argentina: from measures of trust to military integration.(Report)
Sep 01, 2007; ... This essay is adapted from the author's thesis on Chilean-Argentine integration, "Is it Time to Create Permanent Combined Military, Units?" written as part of his masters program in political science at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. It was translated by Military Review. ...
Muddy boots IO: the rise of soldier blogs.
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A PHONE RINGS at the Pentagon. A journalist identifies himself and states, "I just read a blog that says Soldiers use dogs for target practice in Iraq. There's a video clip showing it, too. What's the Army's position?" How should the ...
Leadership in counterinsurgency: a tale of two leaders.(T.E. Lawrence and General Sir Gerald Templer)
Sep 01, 2007; ... This man is different from the rest of the Englishman whom we have seen so far, [in] that he listens attentively to the political organization of the Arabs and his questions show a depth in the subject, which is not present except with one who has in it a pleasure and a passion. ...
The droning of strategic communication and public diplomacy.(INSIGHTS)
Sep 01, 2007; ... IN THESE DAYS of smart bombs and unmanned drones delivering lethal payloads, we sometimes see strategic communication and public diplomacy as little more than engineering problems. We have jettisoned real people from our conception of warfight-hag, and we have forgotten that foreign ...
Understanding airmen: a primer for soldiers.(INSIGHTS)
Sep 01, 2007; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you don't love Soldiers, you have no place in my Air Force. --General Hal Hornburg THE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT QUEST for victory in Iraq is putting enormous stress on the entire U.S. military establishment. As is predictable in such ...
Hamsi.(Poem)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2007 ... <Pre> HAMSI Dull heat and dust choke my soul,As bright red life drips, drips,Into this place of brown and waste. The shallow smiles I see,Are only for our money,Their sullen stares behind bright veils,Are more the timbre of reality ....
Paper and coin: exploiting the enemy's documents.(INSIGHTS)
Sep 01, 2007; ... MOST MILITARY EMBERS, especially those with operational combat experience, understand that intelligence drives operations. Unfortunately, getting good, actionable intelligence is almost always a formidable challenge, a truth borne out in our recent experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. In ...
Words are weapons ...so use them wisely.(INSIGHTS)
Sep 01, 2007; ... Baghdad, 2006: Lieutenant Jones and his platoon have a simple mission: go search the large house on Haifa Street for illegal weapons. However, Jones also knows there is additional guidance; he is to conduct all missions in combination with his partner Iraqi unit. His chain of command has ...
The surrender program.(Military Review Revisited)
Sep 01, 2007; ... EDITOR'S NOTE: This article from the Vietnam era is particularly relevant to resolving the insurgencies we are now encountering in Iraq and elsewhere. Amnesty is an emotionally charged issue: the anger and hatred generated by war are hard to forgive. Nevertheless, as we have seen in the ...
Awakening Warrior: Revolution in the Ethics of Warfare.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... AWAKENING WARRIOR: Revolution in the Ethics of Warfare, Timothy Challans, State University of New York Press, Albany, 2007, 227 pages, $24.95 In The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine remarks that "when a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind as to ...
Victory in War: Foundations of Modern Military Policy.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... VICTORY IN WAR: Foundations of Modern Military Policy, William C. Martell, Cambridge University Press, NY, 2007, 436 pages, $35.00. According to William Martell, professor of national security studies at Tufts University, the national discussion about planning and conducting war ...
Ask & Tell: Gay and Lesbian Veterans Speak Out.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... ASK & TELL: Gay and Lesbian Veterans Speak Out, Steve Estes University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2007, 280 pages, $29.95. Steve Estes, a social sciences professor at Sonoma State University, former interviewer for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, ...
Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq During World War II.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... INSTRUCTIONS FORAMERICAN SERVICEMEN IN IRAQ DURING WORLD WAR II, John A. Nagl (foreword), University of Chicago Press II, 2007, 64 page, $10.00. In this reprint of the War and Navy departments' World War II handbook for wartime service in Iraq (1943), John Nagl's foreword opens ...
Stalin's Guerrillas: Soviet Partisans in World War II.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... STALIN'S GUERRILLAS: Soviet Parians in World War II. Kenneth Slepyan, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, 2006, 409 pages, $34.95. In World War II resistance movements were almost as common as mechanized maneuvers. One of the largest, best-organized resistance movements was m ...
The Civil War.(Video recording review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... THE CIVIL WAR, A&E Television, The History Channel, 2007, 10 hours, $49.95, DVD. Its liner notes announce that The Civil War, the History Channel's new handsomely boxed set of six DVDs, is "the definitive collection of programming on the War Between the States," one that ...
Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... WOMEN AT WAR: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts, James E. Wise Jr. and Scott Baron, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2006, 234 pages, $29.95. Women at War, by James E. Wise Jr. and Scott Baron, is classic oral history on an old topic that continues to be controversial ....
The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in the War Against Japan.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... THE OSS AND HO CHI MINH: Unexpected Allies in the War Against Japan, Dixee Bartholomew-Feis, University of Kansas Press, Lawrence, 2006, 425 pages, $34.95. Dixee R. Bartholomew-Feis takes the reader into the heart of World War II special operations with her thorough examination ...
The Great War, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... THE GREAT WAR, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, Charles Messenger, ed., Greenhill Books, London, 2006, 236 pages, $34.95. The Great War is an edited single volume of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg's memoirs, which were originally published in 1919, just after World War I ....
Shock Troops of the Confederacy.(Book review)
Sep 01, 2007; ... SHOCK TROOPS OF THE CONFEDERACY: The Sharpshooter Battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia, Fred L. Ray, CFS Press, Asheville, NC, 2006, 414 pages, $34.95. Fred Ray's Shock Troops of the Confederacy covers a little-known but important aspect of the Civil War: the ...
The center of gravity in an insurgency.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2007; ... Lieutenant Colonel Chris North, U.S. Army, Retired, Taji, Iraq--Major Mark Krieger's article, "We the People Are Not the Center of Gravity in an Insurgency" (July-August 2007, Military Review), discusses an important issue. However, it misses the mark for "insurgencies" we face today. It ...
Toward strategic communication.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
Sep 01, 2007; ... Christopher R. Paparone, Ph.D., Fort Lee, Virginia--Brigadier General Mari K. Eder's July-August 2007 Military Review article "Toward Strategic Communication" frames the debate and defines the scope of the strategic communication issue better than I have seen it before. However, these ...