US military revises its army manual

The new document stresses peacekeeping and stability operations as much as it does traditional war fighting. The manual describes the US as facing an era of persistent conflict and the military will often operate among civilians and fragile institutions. This analyst says he’s happy that the new army doctrine reflects the lessons learned in Iraq. The document represents a big shift from just ten years ago. This professor says after the fall of the Soviet Union, the US army had trouble changing and focused on defeating large enemies in a traditional war. He says that was always wrong conceptually and Iraq and Afghanistan have underscored that. The professor says the next challenge is whether the army can change as this manual has. This analyst maintains that the US army in Iraq is doing quite a bit of what the new manual lays out. Still he says the new army manual doesn’t get everything right and it assumes the purpose of the US army in a place like Iraq is to enable a legitimate host government to win the hearts and minds of its own government. He says what the army really needs is a manual on how to get the Iraqi government to do what it doesn’t want to do.