Asymmetric Warfare
Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 15:34:10 -0500 From: "90. USAFnews" <usafnews@AFNEWS.AF.MIL> 980734. Special operations commander outlines future threats by Capt. John Paradis 16th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) -- More Chechnyas. If a military strategist needed to look at a good model for the typical future conflict, the war torn republic of Chechnya comes to mind, said Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, U.S. Special Operations Command commander in chief. Speaking recently to about 2,000 Hurlburt Field troops at the 55th Aircraft Maintenance Unit hangar, Schoomaker said the only certainty in the future of warfare is that security challenges will be more ambiguous and will follow less traditional paths. Looking at Chechnya as an example of future conflict, confrontation will likely differ from the more conventional and familiar "total war" by the inclination of future adversaries to use "psychological terror" and the influence of international media, the Internet and even cell phones to employ open brutality as an information warfare tactic. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, determined to crush the secessionist drive of the tiny, mainly Muslim southern republic, ordered about 40,000 troops into Chechnya in December 1994. What was planned as a quick campaign turned into a long and costly war, in which the outnumbered rebels time and again dealt heavy blows to a demoralized Russian military. It's such "asymmetric" opponents like separatists, rebel groups, insurgents and terrorists that U.S. special operations forces will need to prepare for -- enemies who won't attack U.S. strategic strengths, but will instead target U.S. vulnerabilities by executing unorthodox measures to gain success, Schoomaker said. "That's the future. More Chechnyas," the general said. "We are going to see more conflict of this nature because it's a much different world we're facing."
At 12:49 PM -0700 5/28/98, John Young wrote:
Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 15:34:10 -0500 From: "90. USAFnews" <usafnews@AFNEWS.AF.MIL>
980734. Special operations commander outlines future threats by Capt. John Paradis 16th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFNS) -- More Chechnyas. If a military strategist needed to look at a good model for the typical future conflict, the war torn republic of Chechnya comes to mind, said Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, U.S. Special Operations Command commander in chief. ....
Yes, Chechnya is the model for the U.S. to follow: the Central Authority attempting to crush a local rebellion by shelling cities, razing farms, shooting suspected rebels without trials, and blockading entire provinces to starve them into submission. As the United States increasingly moves toward police state status and chooses smaller nations to pick on (Panama, Somalia, Haiti, etc.), the Armed Forces will come to resemble a domestic army. Something the Founders were adamantly opposed to (between "no standing army" (ha!), Washington's warning about avoiding foreign wars, and Posse Comitatus, which forbids a domestic role for the Army).
It's such "asymmetric" opponents like separatists, rebel groups, insurgents and terrorists that U.S. special operations forces will need to prepare for -- enemies who won't attack U.S. strategic strengths, but will instead target U.S. vulnerabilities by executing unorthodox measures to gain success, Schoomaker said.
Sounds good to me, attacking the Central Authority. We need to launch our own crippling attacks on the U.S. military infrastructure--it has become a cancer on the nation. Hacking their computers and misdirecting Galaxy 4 were only the opening shots in this new war. Crypto is our strongest weapon. They know it. And they want it crippled. --Tim May "The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of tyrants...." ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.
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Tim May