04 March 2009

The new project needs to happen

Yes, after seeing three articles on Small Wars Journal in just as many days, (entitled "Thoughts on Hybrid Conflict", "Further Thoughts on Hybrid Conflict" and "Even More Thoughts on Hybrid Conflict"), I think it's time someone came up with a primer on the subject.  And, unfortunately, I think I might just volunteer and do something of the sort, as it's at least a productive use of my time (no women and no beer make Homer something something).  

Part of the problem also resides in the fact that people like the phrase "hybrid war", but they can't really agree on what to apply the term to.  Some apply it to Hezbollah's use of high-tech weaponry in the 2006 war with Israel, whereas others (such as David Kilcullen) refer to the vastly complex environment in Iraq, which included multiple insurgencies, criminal organizations, terror networks, and ethnic conflicts.  After reading the third article, I have also determined that the experts disagree on whether or not hybrid war is a newly-evolvled method of conflict or simply a conceptual framework through which we interperet many of the new threats in the globalized world.   

I swear, I think I just need to come up with a cool enough sounding phrase and let the experts debate what it means.  

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