QUESTION: How does the “Western way of war” influence current US actions in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Outline

1. Introduction
• Attention Step: Learning from history, superior technology, and discipline have defined some of the most successful military campaigns by Western civilizations.
• Thesis: The tradition continues and this fact holds true in the case of U.S military campaigns in U.S and Afghanistan, too.
2. Military Technology
• West has always invented or pursued the most superior military technology.
• Technology has historically compensated for lack of manpower.
3. History Lessons
• Western leaders have been avid follower of historical lessons.
• The idea has been to identify best practices and avoid mistakes.
4. Flexibility
• West has always embraced change.
• Their ability to quickly adapt to different circumstances distinguished west from other military powers.
5. BODY 1
• U.S. tackled some of the problems of Afghan terrain through superior technology
• Used lessons from Soviet Afghan war
• Encouraged innovation to invent new weapons
6. BODY 2
• Technology helped U.S. tackle some of the problems faced by Soviets in Afghanistan
• Technology helped U.S to adapt to unique Afghan territory and take out targets that could not have been taken out by conventional means without heavy loss of soldiers.
• Technology has confused the enemy and has surprised their expectations.
7. BODY 3
• Lessons and knowledge from Gulf War was applied to invade Iraq
• Showing the same historical flexibility, U.S. military changed its bureaucratic structure to improve efficiency.
• Achieved discipline by improving coordination among different intelligence units.
• Superior technology has helped save significant lives.
8. Conclusion
• As predicted by Parker, U.S. continues to rely on military technology, discipline, and history lessons to gain edge. But certain realities have changed since older times and so do the rules of war and the nature of the enemy. Military technology will remain important but improved coordination and discipline will become even more important in the light of emerging trends.