Pentagon überdenkt Doktrin der "Präventionskriege"

--- Der stockende Irak-Krieg zwingt das US-Verteidiungsministerium, die Doktrin der "präemptiven" Kriege zur Demokratisierung von "Schurkenstaaten" zu überdenken, berichtet die LA Times: The war in Iraq is forcing top Pentagon planners to rethink several key assumptions about the use of military power and has called into question the vision set out nearly four years ago that the armed forces can win wars and keep the peace with small numbers of fast-moving, lightly armed troops. As the Pentagon begins a comprehensive review that will map the future of America's armed forces, many Defense Department officials are acknowledging that an intractable Iraqi insurgency they didn't foresee has undermined the military strategy. ... As the Pentagon begins its assessment, it has 145,000 troops stationed in a country they were supposed to have left months ago. And with tensions rising between Washington and the two other countries labeled by President Bush as part of an "axis of evil" — Iran and North Korea — there is a growing belief within the military's ranks that the White House's rhetoric about preemptive war is out of sync with the U.S. military's strained resources. ... the importance of peacekeeping operations and help from allied militaries — ideas that some discounted three years ago as remnants of the President Clinton era — are back in vogue at the Pentagon. ... The Iraq war has also shown the weakness in a strategy created by the Pentagon in 2003 to help plan major operations. The 10-30-30 construct said that the U.S. military should plan military actions to seize the initiative within 10 days of the start of an offensive, achieve limited military objectives within 30 days, and be prepared within another 30 days to shift military resources to another area of the world. Many Pentagon officials fear that the success Iraqi insurgents have had in preventing a U.S. troop reduction in Iraq could be the new rule, rather than the exception.

Daher reduziert Bush momentan anscheinend auch die Rhetorik gegenüber Iran und reicht gemeinsam mit den Europäern doch mal wieder ein Ölzweiglein an die Mullahs. Die israelische Armee bereitet sich derweil mal wieder auf die Kriegsführung in "Low Intensity Conflicts" mit Robotern und Drohnen vor.