Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1997

Abstract

Divining the nature of future war is always problematic. President Eisenhower warned that "Every war is going to astonish you in the way it has occurred, and in the way it is carried out." The United States must, of course, be prepared to meet a wide range of contingencies. Paramount among them would be a threat posed by a "peer competitor," that is, a state capable of battling the United States with comparable forces employing largely orthodox tactics. Although it is almost certain that one will arise in the future, no nation exists today that can challenge America symmetrically as a peer competitor would. In the meantime, it seems prudent to focus on more immediate near-term threats. These include regional adversaries and other kinds of opponents with limited objectives. Some of them may try to offset American power by conducting a brutal campaign of savagery and intimidation I call "neo-absolutist" war. This paper will explore how and why a postmodern "Genghis Khan" might pursue such a strategy, and, even more importantly, explain what a "virtuous warrior," the Sir Galahad of tomorrow's conflicts, might do to meet that challenge.

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Library of Congress Subject Headings

Military art and science, Asymmetric warfare

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