Review: Beyond Shock and Awe, Warfare in the 21st Century

Beyond Shock and Awe: Warfare in the 21st Century, edited by Eric L. Haney.
[rating:5/5]

Haney, a former operator who wrote Inside Delta Force, puts together a collection of essays on the future of warfighting. The first essay on the state of the world, and written by Haney, is worth the price of the book alone. From the conclusion of that essay:

We didn’t know the enemy, and I don’t think we knew ourselves. I fear the cancer has metastasized. I fear we are in the opening phase of what may become the Third World War. I pray that I am wrong.

Rogue state dictators and terrorists are not obliging enough to fight on our terms. They have noticed America’s failures in Lebanon and Somalia. All it takes for them to win is time. Prolong the war, kill lots of U.S. servicemen, and the American people and their leaders will figure out that it pays to quit. For the United States, long, bloody, low-level wars are not worth fighting due to their great expense and heavy casualties relative to a paltry gain.

Beyond Shock and Awe: Warfare in the 21st Century, edited by Eric L. Haney.
[rating:5/5]