New principles for new war

[Administrator]

Now can we meet the new challenges of global terrorism and defend ourselves with the least cost in blood and treasure? We need to identify the nature of the present environment and how our military should be structured to operate within it. We must then revise our doctrine and teach these new ideas to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines so they can internalize them before a crisis occurs.

http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2009/01/3805746

[AAWarthen]

All due respect to Dr. Meilinger (and the rest of the Air force in general) but the basic principals of war have not, nor will they ever change. The reasons we go to war will change, the way we fight will change, the tools we use will change...but the basic principals will not. Any attempt to deny that is nothing more than an airpower enthusiast’s wet dream. Wars can't be won "on the cheap" nor can we rely solely on our perceived technological superiority. Airplanes and satellites can't take and hold ground, talk to a tribal elder or provide a village security. This sort of Rumsfeldian thinking is what got us into the four year quagmire (post Patreus) in Iraq and led to the much unfinished mission in Afghanistan. It is what got Israel embarrassed in 2006. It is why we finally (and thankfully) dropped EBO from our Lexicon. Ignoring the principals of war (as we have learned after the past 8 years) has dire consequences. One last note to all the 4th and 5th generation proponents doing their damndest to sell books. There is nothing "new" about what we're doing. Conquering the standing Army (regardless of the reason), then fighting a counterinsurgency with the people not happy to you're there, IS war. The insurgent tools of the trade have changed. 2000 years ago the insurgents who fought against Roman occupation in Judea used the cloak and dagger; today they use the internet and the IED. Any Roman consul from that time period (with a little catch up PME) could write and execute our COIN doctrine. The wheel doesn't need reinventing just some polish from time to time. A well led, well trained, well equipped military, well versed in the basics (when allowed by its political leaders) can adapt to any situation and triumph on any battlefield.

[Apache 6]

My blood boiled when I read this piece. As a previous post noted; thinking like this is why we lost in Iraq (I guess if 5 car bombs a month and the ethnic cleansing Baghdad and are a Win, so be it) and are about to lose in Afghanistan.
The lesson learned from the Iraq war is "do we get involved in a war like Iraq in the first place", not, "that if we had only applied airpower a little differently and accepted new principles of war we would have done better".
What is truly scary is that there are powerful people (read former SecDef) who make decisions that cost young men and women their lives based on logic like this.