Ideas in Arms : The Relationship of Kinetic and Ideological Means in America’s Global War on Terror

By Thomas D. Torkelson, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Book Id: WPLBN0002170446
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 3.64 MB
Reproduction Date: 10/15/2012

Title:	Ideas in Arms : The Relationship of Kinetic and Ideological Means in America’s Global War on Terror
Author:	Thomas D. Torkelson, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Military Science, War
Collections:	Authors Community, Psychology
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Air University Press

Member Page:	Air University Press
Citation APA MLA Chicago D. Torkelson, Lieutenant Colonel, Usa, B. T. (n.d.). Ideas in Arms : The Relationship of Kinetic and Ideological Means in America’s Global War on Terror. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.us/

Description
Lt Col Thomas D. Torkelson claims that the inability of the United States to achieve its stated political objectives in its global war on terror (GWOT) reflects its flawed kinetic-centric military strategy. This study erects a framework of effectiveness utilizing Clausewitzian principles to judge military strategy. By considering the expressed political objectives of the GWOT, the centers of gravity (COG) that military strategy should target within this struggle, and the GWOT’s placement along a Clausewitzian continuum of violence, this paper evaluates US military efforts in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) through the perspective of two opposing models.

Table of Contents
1 THE TIMELINESS OF TIMELESSNESS . . . . . 1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 2 CLAUSEWITZIAN EFFECTIVENESS . . . . . . .9 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 3 THE KINETIC MODEL AND ITS PREVALENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 4 THE NONKINETIC MODEL . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 5 OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM: THE MODELS APPLIED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 6 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113