Americans and Asymmetric Conflict: Lebanon, Somalia, and Afghanistan

(Hardback)

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As the War in Iraq continues to rage, many in the White House, State Department, Department of Defense, and outside government are left to wonder if it was possible to foresee the difficulty the United States is currently having with Sunni nationalists and Islamic extremists. Recent American military experience offers significant insight into this question. With the fog of the Cold War finally lifting and clarity returning to the nature of conflict, the dominance of asymmetry in the military experience of the United States is all too evident. Lebanon (1982-1984), Somalia (1992-1994), and Afghanistan (2001-2004) offer recent and relevant insight into successes and failures of American attempts to fight adversaries utilizing asymmetric conflict to combat the United States when it intervened in these three states. The results illustrate the difficulty of engaging adversaries unwilling to wage a conventional war and the need for improved strategic and tactical doctrine. It is easy, Lowther writes, for Americans to forget the lessons of past conflicts as the politics of the present dominate. His purpose here is to highlight some of history's recent lessons so that we may move forward with an awareness of what experience offers.

Reviews

General and professional readers. * Choice *
Adam Lowther's analysis of America's experience in asymmetric conflict affords a unique perspective in a burgeoning genre. The author explores America's role in conflicts characterized by disproportionate capabilities and ill-defined objectives. He succeeds in painstakingly tracing the history of unconventional military theory. Lowther provides a superbly systematic analysis of US involvment in Lebanon, Somalia, and Afghanistan. . . . Americans and Asymmetric Conflict provides a rich survey of military thought that is instructive for those seeking a concise source on unconventional warfare theory. The case studies of Lebanon, Somalia, and Afghanistan are balanced and insightful, and hold value for future contingency planners. They are also an excellent resource to supplement other primary sources related to similar conflicts. * Parameters *
In the hopes that we may move forward in the current conflicts with an awareness of what past experience offers, Lowther explores recent American experiences with asymmetric warfare in Lebanon (1982-1984), Somalia (1992-1994), and Afghanistan (2001-2006). For each case, he analyzes the economic, military, and political conditions prior to American intervention; examines American objectives; analyzes how American forces combated the asymmetric strategy and tactics of its adversary; assesses whether American objectives were achieved; and explores the lessons learned, which include issues of human intelligence, force capability, static defense, nation building, and conflict idiosyncrasy. * Reference & Research Book News *

Author Bio

Adam B. Lowther is Research Professor at the Air Force Research Institute. He received his PhD from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He is the author of articles in Military Review, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Proceedings, and An Army at War.