5TH Generation Warfare / Responding to Non-Traditional Warfare

I was going to post this on the Saudi Arabian poll but I thought it might be to off subject. Great discussion, by the way, on the House of Saud as it relates to today and future possible senarios.

As to the asymetrical battle field, or dealing with non-traditional combatants and tactics, i.e. homicide bombings. The SA disscussion reminded me of what I read recently by Robert David Steele.

ÒSteele, who has written extensively about unconventional and non-traditional threats, and about the intelligence and national security capabilities needed to deal with them, is among the first to speak of Ò5 th Generation Warfare.Ó He says, ÒThe US is stuck between 2 rd Generation ÒmassÓ warfare and 3 rd Generation ÒmaneuverÓ or precision warfare. We have not adjusted to 4 Th Generation or ÒasymmetricÓ warfareÑsuicidal volunteers able to blow up buildings, pipelines, and transmission towers. We are simply not trained, equipped, nor organized to find, fix, and fight individuals or sub-state networked organizations.Ó ÒThe Bush Administration has elevated terrorism to a six-front hundred-year war we may lose.Ó Ò5 Th Generation ÒholisticÓ warfare requires a coherent global security strategy that places its primary emphasis on nurturing legitimate governance everywhere. Only legitimate governments can be effective at internal security against the minority seeking to be terrorists. Repressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia, or oligarchic regimes such as ColombiaÕs, are destined to fail, and no amount of US military assistance or training will be effective in stabilizing those regimes.Ó

What does the group think about this, or what about SteeleÕs positions/statements?

Skipper