The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century by Colonel Thomas X. Hammes USMC - Thoughtful, neutral and critical of business as usual

â??4GW (Fourth Generation Warfare) is the only kind of war America has ever lost. And we have done so three times â? in Vietnam, Lebanon, and Somalia. This form of warfare has also defeated the French in Vietnam and Algeria, and the USSR in Afghanistanâ?¦As the only Goliath left in the world, we should be worried that the worldâ??s Davids have found a sling and stone that work.â? â? Chapter 1, The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century

The War in Iraq. The War on Terror. These types of â??asymmetricalâ? warfare are the conflicts of the 21st century â? and show how difficult it is for the worlds remaining superpower to battle insurgents and terrorists who will fight unconventionally in the face of superior military power. This change in military conflict may seem sudden.

Thoughtful, neutral and critical of business as usual
This book joins a number of others (Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife, The Utility of Force,Tactics of the Crescent Moon) that advocate a more carefully thought out, less technology-driven and hopefully more productive approach to fighting terrorism. And, make no mistake, it is very much about winning against terrorism. It is also remarkably neutral in its tone, frankly outlining the smart things America's enemies have done. Interestingly, Bin Laden gets a big 'F' for 9/11 which Hammes sees as an overstretch which mobilized an hitherto passive USA against him.

Those expecting a list of weapons and tactics to fight guerrillas and terrorists will be disappointed.

Instead you get case studies of insurgencies, with a strong emphasis on the socio-political-media, rather than purely military, aspects of these wars. You also get a scathing dissection of how the US military is still structured to fight conventional wars, even as none of its immediate enemies are likely to be foolish enough to engage it on that level.

This is a book that sometimes really gets you to reconsider your world view. For example, like many I'm no fan of the Saudi government. But, if you are a Bin Laden and you want to take over Saudi Arabia, then you need to discredit its government in the eyes of Western voters. All of a sudden, calls to drop support for Saudi Arabia take on a new light: genuine, or manipulation? Hmmm...

One weakness: having made his point that many of the expensive toys being bought by the Pentagon are irrelevant to current wars, Col. Hammes postulates that they would also be near useless in the event of a USA-China conflict. I think that is somewhat overstating his case. Likewise, the F-22 does have some air-to-surface capability, unlike Hammes' contention.

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