He advocates synergizing these tools with a new generation of lethal technologies based on "things small and smart," especially robotic systems that will replace humans in such high-risk missions as mine clearing and security patrolling. According to Alexander, in future conflicts these high-tech methods will increasingly be juxtaposed with techniques as old as warfare itself. He cites post-September 11 operations in Afghanistan, where precision-guided bombs supported cavalry charges, then segues into a series of hypothetical future scenarios ranging from a hostage situation in Nepal to major conflicts in the Middle East.

While Alexander offers one scenario in which an "obliging enemy" fights a tactically conventional battle and is easily destroyed, he takes pains to demonstrate that America's future wars are most likely to be asymmetric. In the book's final hundred pages, Alexander recommends eviscerating terrorist funding, developing media as a strategic weapon and using precision weapons to target terrorists' families, but predicts an increase in the level and success of terrorist activity to a point where an outraged citizenry calls for massive retaliation with no clear target in sight; Alexander obliges with a series of even more apocalyptic recommendations for winning "World War X." Connections to political and social realities may be tenuous-but no one can accuse him of unwillingness to think outside the box.

One of the key developers of nonlethal weapons here studies the use of such weapons in the war against terrorism. Some of those instruments, such as air-dropped fiber nets that short out power grids, have already been employed in Iraq. Some not exactly nonlethal counterparts have also been used, such as the high-intensity, thermobaric heat weapons used for cave busting in Afghanistan. As well as weapons per se, Alexander discusses some tactics that aren't weapons in the traditional sense, such as bribery (useful in kleptocracies) and spreading disinformation through not only the formal media but also the Web. Alexander shows genuine but mature enthusiasm for the new range of tactics and strategy, and he is aware that, in the long run, sound political solutions are necessary. In the shorter run, we seem to be approaching the capability of defense without inflicting horrendous and destabilizing casualties on opponents, even if we think they deserve them!

 Thomas Dunne Books 031230675X / 9780312306755
Hardcover As New Condition New York 

Price: 24.01 USD