Effects-Based Operations

Fascinating article written by Harlan Ullman; one of the authors of the “shock and awe doctrine” or as the British call it: “effects-based operations.” Below in an excerpt:

Whether or not this war is won rapidly and with relatively low loss of life to all concerned, the aftermath is what will count. Few can doubt that the coalition will win the war. The peace that follows is less certain.

For the US, one conclusion is clear. It knows that once victory in Baghdad is secured, it must win the hearts and minds of ordinary Iraqis. But how to win that struggle has not yet been defined. And there is no parallel strategy to shock and awe for implementing the peace. Should the US attempt to "Americanise" Iraq, that will prove disastrous.

President George W. Bush has bet more than his presidency on this war. He has bet the nation. Even if shock and awe prevail and the victory is quick and cheap, that is only the first phase in a much longer campaign to bring justice and stability to a region infested with the most virulent forms of violence and hatred the world has known.