Defense and the National Interest

John Goelker had an interesting look at the issue in last Saturday’s Counterpunch:
Iraq has morphed from a fourth generation war (4GW)–for which US forces began belatedly to prepare under the leadership of General David Petraeus–into a fifth generation conflict (5GW). The difference is profound, and it obviates our political strategy, our military strategy and our [...]

[Significantly revised at 6 pm EDST, on March 12th]
Fabius Maximus, in stark contrast to his nickname “Cunctator” (Delayer), takes the initiative:
When non-T conflicts become struggles for control of large geographic areas (not neighborhoods) AND involve substantial use of force, we call them 4GW’s. In the words of Martin van Creveld (private communication) 4GW is [...]

A new generation?
When Bill Lind, Keith Nightengale, John Schmitt, Joseph Sutton, and GI Wilson published the paper that introduced the term “fourth generation warfare,” they were speculating:
Is it not about time for a fourth generation to appear? If so, what might it look like?
They posed two broad alternatives, a technology-driven fourth generation (as was the [...]