Other
Fiona Hill, Anatol Lieven, Thomas de Waal
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REQUIRED IMAGE
Other
Soldiers Before Missiles: Meeting the Challenge from the World's Streets
As Kosovo demonstrates (and as Lebanon and Somalia showed more brutally), the most dangerous threats come from the need to occupy areas containing hostile populations; these dangers are even greater when the areas concerned are cities. This is the kind of future warfare on which the U.S. Army should be concentrating its new weapons development, its tactical thinking, and its moral preparation.
Published on Apr 24, 2001
U.S. military superiority in the air, at sea, and in warfare in open terrain is at present so overwhelming and so obvious that there is little need for the expensive new high-technology weapons systems being demanded by all three services. Recognizing America's enormous advantages, potential enemies will be very cautious about engaging in open battle.
Instead, as Kosovo is demonstrating (and as Lebanon and Somalia demonstrated even more brutally), the most dangerous threats come from the need to occupy areas containing hostile populations; and these dangers are even greater when the areas concerned are cities. This is the kind of future warfare on which the U.S. Army should be concentrating its new weapons development, its tactical thinking, and its moral preparation.
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About the Author
Anatol Lieven is a senior associate for foreign and security policy in the Russian and Eurasian Program. He was previously editor of Strategic Comments at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
About the Author
Anatol Lieven
Former Senior Associate
- A Spreading Danger: Time for a New Policy Toward Chechnya
Recent Work
Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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