Archive for February, 2008

Israel vs. Iran: 1st strike strategies

In late December, Tehran crowed that its 1,000-megawatt Bushehr nuclear plant, supposedly meant to produce peaceful nuclear energy, would be “online” as early as this spring, cementing in place another important building …

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An irregular challenge

First, IW [irregular warfare] is a form of armed conflict. As such, it replaces the term “low-intensity conflict.” Second, IW is a form of warfare. As such, it encompasses insurgency, counterinsurgency, terrorism …

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They also serve

Blogs link and support families of service members at war

Like all wars before it, the Long War has demanded a high toll from families of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines …

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An intelligent call

TO DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MIKE McCONNELL for stepping away from the Bush administration’s coyness on whether waterboarding is torture. In an interview in The New Yorker magazine, McConnell said the legal …

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War funding fudge

TO THE WHITE HOUSE for its plan to fold most wartime funding into its base Pentagon budget request starting in fiscal 2010. Such a move would be ill-advised for three reasons. First, …

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Masters of command

TO THE NAVY COMMANDERS AND CREW of the three warships in the Strait of Hormuz for their cool, restrained response to severe provocation from Iranian gunboats. As the gunboats swarmed disturbingly close …

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The Air Force we want

In August, the Air Force issued a new doctrinal publication, Irregular Warfare. Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley said in his foreword to the document that air power produces asymmetric advantages …

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Networks and knowing

Globalization is flattening the military landscape

Maneuver warfare has always held the elevated terrain as sacred. Aviators have a similar golden rule: Maintain altitude, which can be traded for speed, another virtue …

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In this issue

Our two cover story authors bring to bear more than 60 years of Air Force career experience in their examinations of why and how the Air Force should reshape itself to make …

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SecDef has signaled a turning point in U.S. defense thinking

“Arguably the most important military component in the war on terror is not the fighting we do ourselves, but how well we enable and empower our partners to defend and govern their …

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