Guerras híbridas y realismo: Mattis y Hoffman

Uno tiene para si que siempre es conveniente tener a las personas adecuadas en los lugares precisos.

El Secretario de Defensa de los EE.UU. secunda la campaña de su Presidente sobre Irak y Afganistán apostando por aplicar dosis más claras de realismo, que incluyen no olvidar que la democracia es el mejor de los sistemas concebidos por y para los seres humanos.

Así, anteayer, "No matter how you feel about how we got to where we are, the consequences of getting this wrong for Iraq, for the region, for us, are enormous," … The precise form, troop level and mission of a long-term U.S. security force would be negotiated with Iraqi government leaders, he added, noting that the U.S. force's purpose in its role to counter terrorism, guard Iraq's border, and provide support and training to Iraq's security forces likely would adhere to the principles outlined by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group headed by James A. Baker and Lee H. Hamilton, (anoto, amigos del GEES, viejo comentario sobre dicho estudio), y

Ayer, "For our friends and allies, as well as for our enemies and potential adversaries, our commitment to democratic values must be matched by actions," the secretary said. "It would be a mark of shame on all of us if an alliance built on the foundation of democratic values were to falter at the very moment that it tries to lay that foundation for democracy elsewhere, especially in a mission that is crucial to our own security."

En tales circunstancias y con tales objetivos marcados, conviene leer un ya añejo artículo del teniente general James Mattis (USMC) y del TCol. Frank Hoffman ( USMCR, Retd) Future Warfare: The Rise of Hybrid Wars (US Naval War College, Proceedings, vol. 132, no. 1233, November 2005, pp. 18–19), oportunamente reflejado en su día por los australianos, y a los que siguieron otros también reflejados hará un año por otros lectores en ultramar, entre los que destaca, de Hoffman, Complex Irregular Warfare: The Next Revolution in Military Affairs (Foreign Policy Research Institute, Summer 2006).

Mattis acaba de ser propuesto para ejercer la jefatura del Mando Conjunto de los EE.UU.

Hoffman sigue en su cubículo o covachuela en cierto barracón provisional de Quantico (VA) escribiendo cosas tan claras que hasta servidor llega a creer que las comprende.

P.S. Habiendo leído después el "geesuista" Guerra contra el terror. Lo que debemos a Bush, en memoria de los 192 muertos y más de 2000 heridos que el 11-M en España no nos evitaron los errores neocon, transcribo el final del texto de Hoffman "Complex Irregular Warfare..." ya enlazado:

Meanwhile, the impact of the 9/11, 3/11, and 7/7 attacks have not gone unnoticed by tomorrow’s enemy. Nor has our bloody experience in Iraq, which offered a rich laboratory for their education. Because of the success of these attacks and the costs imposed in Iraq, protracted irregular conflicts will not be a passing fad, nor will they remain low-tech wars. Our opponents eagerly learn and adapt rapidly to more efficient modes of killing. We cannot continue to overlook our own vulnerabilities or underestimate the imaginations of our enemies. In a world of complex irregular wars, the price for complacency only grows steeper.