Americans and Asymmetric Conflict

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Americans and Asymmetric Conflict Lebanon, Somalia, and Afghanistan

Adam B. Lowther

Foreword by Donald M. Snow

Book Code: C9635

ISBN: 0-275-99635-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99635-2

DOI:

256 pages

Praeger Security International

Publication: 7/30/2007

List Price: $75.00 (UK Sterling Price: £41.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Military Studies » Military Studies (General)

Reviews:

General and professional readers.
—Choice April 2008
In the hopes that "we may move forward in the current conflicts with an awareness of what past experience offers," Lowther explores recent American experiences with asymmetric warfare in Lebanon (1982-1984), Somalia (1992-1994), and Afghanistan (2001-2006). For each case, he analyzes the economic, military, and political conditions prior to American intervention; examines American objectives; analyzes how American forces combated the asymmetric strategy and tactics of its adversary; assesses whether American objectives were achieved; and explores the lessons learned, which include issues of human intelligence, force capability, static defense, nation building, and conflict idiosyncrasy
—Reference & Research Book News November 2007

Description: As the War in Iraq continues to rage, many in the White House, State Department, Department of Defense, and outside government are left to wonder if it was possible to foresee the difficulty the United States is currently having with Sunni nationalists and Islamic extremists. Recent American military experience offers significant insight into this question. With the fog of the Cold War finally lifting and clarity returning to the nature of conflict, the dominance of asymmetry in the military experience of the United States is all too evident. Lebanon (1982-1984), Somalia (1992-1994), and Afghanistan (2001-2004) offer recent and relevant insight into successes and failures of American attempts to fight adversaries utilizing asymmetric conflict to combat the United States when it intervened in these three states. The results illustrate the difficulty of engaging adversaries unwilling to wage a conventional war and the need for improved strategic and tactical doctrine.
"It is easy," Lowther writes, "for Americans to forget the lessons of past conflicts as the politics of the present dominate...." His purpose here is to highlight some of history's recent lessons so that we may move forward with an awareness of what experience offers.

LC Card Number: 2007014362

LCC Class: U163

Dewey Class: 355

PDF Catalogs:
Academic Library Fall 2008.pdf


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