Unrestricted Warfare Unrestricted Warfare -- Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui -- Chapter 4: What Do Americans Gain By Touching the Elephant?

Unrestricted Warfare

Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui

Chapter 4: What Do Americans Gain By Touching the Elephant?

[pp. 87-120 in original]

"Aerial combat was the decisive factor for victory in the war against Iraq... High technology weapons were effectively used, and not only were they the key reason that air and ground troops demonstrated remarkably in combat, they also were the key reason United Nations forces were able keep their casualties and fatalities so low. -- L. Aspen

The Gulf War has been the United States military's biggest war catch in the past few decades. When the war had just ended, the American military, members of Congress, and various civic organizations began to carry out a detailed examination of this catch from different points of view. From each of the reports submitted by them and each of the steps subsequently taken by the American military, the tremendous achievements of this examination can be seen. These achievements, moreover, are all extremely valuable to armies and military personnel throughout the world, and there must be no delay in looking at them. Because the nationalistic instincts of the Americans I especially admire are particularly prominent in the long-standing sectarianism that exists among the military services, theoretical blind spots and thought errors are bound to occur in the research, to the extent that a grand warfare investigation has been turned into a blind person trying to size up an elephant. This is a topic that requires our clear re-examination and should not be treated as an excuse to deny its value. But what is it, after all, that Americans want to feel on this big beast? Let's first take a look at it.

The Hand Extended Under the Military Fence [Each Armed Service Views War Differently]

Unrestricted Warfare Unrestricted Warfare -- Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui -- Chapter 3: A Classic That Deviates From the Classics

Unrestricted Warfare

Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui

Chapter 3: A Classic That Deviates From the Classics

[pp. 60-86 in original]

"Did the special nature of the Gulf War...trigger 'a revolution in military affairs' or not? This is ultimately a question of perspective." -- Anthony H. Cordesman, Abraham R. Wagner.

Compared to any war in history, the Gulf War can be considered a major war. More than 300 warships from six carrier groups, 4,000 aircraft, 12,000 tanks and 12,000 armored vehicles, and nearly two million soldiers from more than 30 nations took part in the war. Of the 42-day war, 38 days were air strikes, while the ground war lasted only 100 hours. The U.S.-led multinational force crushed 42 Iraqi divisions, and the Iraqi forces suffered 30,000 casualties and 80,000 prisoners; 3,847 tanks, 1,450 armored vehicles, and 2,917 artillery pieces were destroyed, while the U.S. forces only lost 184 people, but incurred the enormous cost of $61 billion. [1]

Perhaps because victory was achieved so easily, to this day there are very few people in Uncle Sam's wildly jubilant group that have accurately evaluated the significance of the war. Some hotheads used this to ceaselessly fabricate the myth that the United States was invincible, while some who could still be considered cool-headed -- most of whom were commentators and generals unable to take part in "Desert Storm" in a complex and subtle frame of mind -- believed that "Desert Storm" was not a typical war [2] and that a war conducted under such ideal conditions cannot serve as a model. When one listens to such talk it smacks somewhat of sour grapes. Actually, viewed from a traditional perspective, "Desert Storm" was not a classic war in the typical sense but [since it was a war conducted just as the greatest revolution in military affairs in the history of man to date was arriving it cannot be measured with traditional or even outmoded standards. At a time when new warfare required a new classic, the U.S.-led allied forces created it right on time in the Gulf, and only those who were fettered by the old conventions could not see its classic significance for future warfare. This is because the classics for future warfare can only be born by departing from traditional models. We have no intention of helping the Americans create a myth, but when "Desert Storm" unfolded and concluded for all to see, with its many combatant countries, enormous scale, short duration, small number of casualties, and glorious results startling the whole world, who could say that a classic war heralding the arrival of warfare in the age of technical integration-globalization had not opened wide the main front door to the mysterious and strange history of warfare - even though it was still just a classic created by U.S. technology and the U.S. style of fighting?

Unrestricted Warfare -- Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui -- Chapter 2: The War God's Face Has Become Indistinct

Unrestricted Warfare

Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui

Chapter 2: The War God's Face Has Become Indistinct

[pp. 34-59 in original]

"Throughout the Entire Course of History, Warfare is Always Changing." --Andre Beaufre

Ever since early man went from hunting animals to slaughtering his own kind, people have been equipping the giant war beast for action, and the desire to attain various goals has prompted soldiers to become locked in bloody conflict. It has become universally accepted that warfare is a matter for soldiers. For several thousand years, the three indispensable "hardware" elements of any war have been soldiers, weapons and a battlefield. Running through them all has been the "software" element of warfare: its purposefulness. Before now, nobody has ever questioned that these are the basic elements of warfare. The problem comes when people discover that all of these basic elements, which seemingly were hard and fast, have changed so that it is impossible to get a firm grip on them. When that day comes, is the war god's face still distinct?

Why Fight and for Whom?