Adaptation

Josh Manchester:

THERE HAS BEEN much discussion of the military costs of our engagement in Iraq, but relatively little acknowledgement of the military benefits--not least of which is that by staying in Iraq, the U.S. military is being forced to adapt to irregular warfare.

What is irregular warfare? The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review labels it "terrorism, insurgency, and guerrilla warfare." But that definition is probably too narrow. "Irregular warfare" is, by definition, "irregular." It might be easier to define irregular warfare in the negative: It is not conventional warfare, with set-piece battles conducted by the classic constituents of combat arms working in concert. Irregular warfare avoids such engagements, and seeks victory by other means. And the essence of irregular warfare--and of defeating it--is adaptation. The side that can adapt faster, keeping the initiative, will win. Bernard Fall, the French historian of French involvement in Indochina, once put this most succinctly: "If it works, it is obsolete."

ADAPTATION on the part of the American military has been, since the invasion of Iraq, too slow in coming. But it is gaining steam....

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There is much more. Chester makes an important point. We have to learn to defeat this kind of warfare are we will be plagued by it until we do. Defeating this type of warfare is as important as winning in Iraq.