The Iraq Wars and America's Military Revolution

by Keith L. Shimko

• ISBN13: 9780521128841
• ISBN10: 0521128846
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Many saw the United States' decisive victory in Desert Storm (1991) as not only vindication of American defense policy since Vietnam but also confirmation of a revolution in military affairs (RMA). Just as information-age technologies were revolutionizing civilian life, the Gulf War appeared to reflect similarly profound changes in warfare. A debate has raged ever since about a contemporary RMA and its implications for American defense policy. Addressing these issues, The Iraq Wars and America's Military Revolution is a comprehensive study of the Iraq Wars in the context of the RMA debate. Focusing on the creation of a reconnaissance-strike complex and conceptions of parallel or nonlinear warfare, Keith L. Shimko finds a persuasive case for a contemporary RMA while recognizing its limitations as well as promise. The RMA's implications for American defense policy are more ambiguous because the military lessons of the Iraq Wars need be placed in the context of judgments about national interests and predictions of future strategic environments.

Author Biography

Keith L. Shimko is associate professor of political science at Purdue University, where he has taught since 1989. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of international relation and security. Professor Shimko is the author of Images and Arms Control, which received the Quincy Wright Award in 1992, and three editions of International Relations: Perspectives and Controversies. He has also taught at the University of Hamburg, where he was a guest professor in the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy in 2002-2003.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Military Revolutions and the Iraq Wars	p. 1
1991, A New Kind of War?	p. 1
Revolutions and Military Revolutions	p. 3
The Contemporary Debate	p. 9
RMA Skepticism	p. 15
Thinking about a New RMA	p. 19
The Iraq Wars	p. 21
Conclusion: Theory, Policy, and a Contemporary RMA	p. 25
From Vietnam to Iraq - The Rebirth of American Military Power and the Origins of an RMA	p. 26
The First Iraq War	p. 26
The First Glimmers of Revolution	p. 27
After Vietnam: Constraints and Challenges	p. 31
Countering Soviet Superiority	p. 35
A Revolution in Training	p. 37
A Revolution in Technology	p. 39
A Revolution in Doctrine	p. 46
Conclusion	p. 51
The First Iraq War, 1991 - A Revolution Dawns?	p. 53
The Road to War	p. 53
The War Plan	p. 56
The War	p. 63
The Strategic Air Campaign	p. 64
Preparing the Battlefield	p. 67
The Ground Campaign	p. 73
Evaluating the First Iraq War	p. 76
What Kind of Victory?	p. 76
What Kind of Revolution?	p. 79
Conclusion	p. 88
The Iraqi Interregnum, 1991-2000	p. 91
The Calm After the Storm	p. 91
Technology Advances	p. 93
Munitions	p. 94
Sensors	p. 95
Communications	p. 97
Intervention in Somalia, 1992-1993	p. 99
The Lessons of Somalia	p. 101
Military Operations Other Than War	p. 104
The RMA and Network-Centric Warfare	p. 108
The System of Systems	p. 109
Rapid Dominance: "Shock and Awe"	p. 111
Net-Centric Warfare	p. 113
Kosovo: NATO's "Curious Little War"	p. 116
Operation Allied Force	p. 118
Evaluating OAF	p. 120
Air-Centric versus Network-Centric Warfare	p. 127
Conclusion	p. 129
Afghanistan and the Second Iraq War, 2001-2003 - A Revolution Confirmed?	p. 131
Revolution Confirmed?	p. 131
Bush, Rumsfeld, and Military Transformation	p. 131
The Afghan Prelude	p. 134
The "Afghan Model"	p. 135
Evaluating the "Afghan Model"	p. 138
The Second Iraq War, 2003	p. 142
The Battle Over the War Plan	p. 143
The Opposing Forces	p. 148
The War: Operation Iraqi Freedom	p. 150
Evaluating the Second Iraq War	p. 158
Rumsfeld Vindicated?	p. 159
OIF and the RMA: Precision, Information, Jointness, and Parallel War	p. 163
The "Digital Divide"	p. 168
Conclusion	p. 171
The Third Iraq War, 2003-? - A Revolution Denied?	p. 173
Liberation to Occupation	p. 173
Disorder and Insurgency	p. 174
A Budding Insurgency	p. 177
April 2004: A Very Bad Month	p. 180
Summer 2004: Finally, a Strategy	p. 183
2005: Elections, Governance, and Insurgency	p. 187
2006: Insurgency and Civil War?	p. 190
The Rise of Counterinsurgents	p. 192
One Last Try, with a Little Help	p. 195
Evaluating the Third Iraq War	p. 200
The Third Iraq War and Military Transformation	p. 202
The Third Iraq War and the RMA	p. 206
Conclusion	p. 210
Conclusion: The Future of America's Military Revolution	p. 213
The Nature and Limits of the RMA	p. 214
The Iraq Wars and the Future of American Defense Policy	p. 222
Priorities	p. 224
Fungibility	p. 226
Institutions	p. 229
Conclusion: "Re-Balancing" American Defense Policy?	p. 232
Index	p. 239
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