The American Way of Battle

For those interested in reading some background into why the United States has had such a hard time transitioning from the "major combat operations" phase (Phase III) to the politico-military operations phase (Phase IV) of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I highly recommend this monograph. Antulio Echeverria, the director of national security affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, does an excellent job of showing how the United States does not have a "way of war," but rather a "way of battle." In other words, the U.S. military tends to focus too much on the military component of operations without fully placing such operations into a broader, holistic perspective. At 29 pages it is a quick, yet very informative read.