World War IV Strategy

James Atticus Bowden

America’s strategy in WW I and II was offensive. America’s strategy in WW III was a global defensive based on ‘containment.’ It was genius. Nuclear weapons established a Mutual Assured Destruction standoff. Wars on the periphery and by proxy were won and lost by both Superpowers. Yet, eventually, as expected, the internal contradictions of Marxism, its inherent lies, caused its economic and political collapse.

Likewise, America’s strategy in WW IV should be a global defensive - for this phase. The war, like all wars, will change over time. Someday, America might be on the strategic offense, perhaps in Europe.

WW III meant defending the Free World against an empire based on Human Secular Communist Totalitarianism. WW IV is one Uber Superpower defending against Islamist Totalitarianism. The difference from WW III is the enemy. The great strategic situation is like Rome after the fall of Carthage. The U.S. must worry about internal civil wars and external barbarians beyond the borders of our civilization. Imperial responsibilities without Imperial ambitions should be met with a Centurion Strategy.

Contain Muslims in the Islamic world. Kill Islamists where you find them. Engage Muslims worldwide with ideas about capitalism, democracy and either Christianity or Pagan Human Secularism. The war is over ideas.

About 150 million Muslims share Islamist ideas. WW IV is fighting Islamist world domination. Some claim the Islamist enemy is motivated by grievances. What rot. If every grievance were fulfilled tomorrow - from eradicating Israel to installing Muslim Mullah governments across the Islamic world to isolating their subjects from Hollywood – the Islamists would still hate us and fight to conquer the world under one Muslim Caliphate.

Since the war is about ideas, not nations, the center of gravity is people. The Islamist Muslim minority has to be held harmless. Killing them is one way. Keeping them in their own countries helps. The non-threatening Muslim majority must be engaged with ideas, lest they take the small steps from the center of their faith to become Islamists on Jihad.

The worst, immediate Islamist threat is Weapons of Mass Destruction – nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. They can’t destroy the U.S. but they can kill a lot of people and hurt the economy. The long range threat is conquering Europe by having babies. Demograhics are part of destiny.

The Islamists don’t pose a conventional threat – army, navy and air force – even if they take over a Muslim country. The Islamists’ asymmetric threat is to have a population in arms or small terror cells in direct action. Immigration is their bloodless invasion of the West.

America’s strategic alternatives, conquest or surrender, are unsound. So, the U.S. needs the forces capable of conquering, breaking, any Islamist country presenting a clear and present danger to support a defensive Centurion Strategy. America needs to build the active Army from 502,000 to 600,000, possibly 800,000, over time. The Marines, at 178,000, are a second land army. (When WW II required Marines for a real Naval Campaign, the force ratio was Army/90 divisions: Marine/6 divisions. The ratio in expeditionary wars of WW III was 5 Army to 1 Marine. The Marines are superb at politics and the Army is pitiful). The Navy and Air Force should be sized to their supporting roles.

These forces are needed, worst case, to occupy a very populous country for a few years. More often, raids and punitive expeditions will require all the armed services complementary capabilities.

The Transformation of War serves the Centurion Strategy. Tactical and Operational level transformations create strategic implications. The Army gains a comparative advantage over any enemy, anywhere, with the concepts for the Future Combat Systems. The basic battlefield geometry is changed because the time-distance-speed-precision-effectiveness relationships are altered. The ‘kill zone’ is different. Improved information technologies allow the Army, supported by Joint Forces, to See First, Decide First, Act First, Act Faster and Finish Decisively. This emerging doctrine for the New American Way of Land Warfare is likened to Blitzkrieg II. If enemies get high or directed energy weapons, the doctrine will evolve.

The strategy must use Muslim allies wherever possible. Old alliances, like NATO, can serve well as long as Europe has any will to survive. New ad hoc alliances will arise as the occasions demand.

All the other aspects of American power, economic, cultural, political and moral, must support this Centurion Strategy. Promote America’s Munificent Destiny of capitalism, democracy and Judeo-Christian culture at home and generous investments in stable and secure places world wide. Never give up.

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James Atticus Bowden has specialized in inter-disciplinary long range 'futures' studies for over a decade. He is employed by a Defense Department contractor. He is a retired United States Army Infantry Officer. He is a 1972 graduate of the United States Military Academy and earned graduate degrees from Harvard University and Columbia University. He holds two elected Republican Party offices in Virginia.

jatticus@aol.com