Unconventional Warfare

I came upon an interesting article, The Futility of Force, posted on the website of The Guardian, one of the U.K.’s moderate to conservative newspapers. The author, Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian’s Security Editor, states that military leaders in the United Kingdom, the United States and other powers are rethinking their situations based on experience in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and other hot spots around the globe.

Norton-Taylor lists a hierarchy of force that has become clear over recent decades but which I had never attempted to categorize. He begins with the premise that U.K. defense officials see little or no real threat from traditional conventional enemies over the next generation. Strong nations are unlikely to be confronted directly by their peers or near peers. Lesser powers have learned that funding and backing terrorist groups is a far safer means of dealing with their military betters while nations weaker still that are under occupation proceed to next level of force available to them, insurgencies from within.

The article has piqued my interest greatly and I’m going to look at events through that prism to see if I continue to agree with the premise. At this point I thought that you might like to read it and see if any of this resonates with any of you.

Your reactions would be welcome and read with interest either on the blog site or at my regular email address brennan01@cox.net.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1834630,00.html

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Wild Bill