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   From: oO@oO.com   
      
   Planning the US 'Long War' on terror   
         By James Westhead   
         BBC News, Washington   
      
      
      
   It sounds eerily like the Cold War - and that is no mistake.   
   The "Long War" is the name Washington is using to rebrand the new world   
   conflict, this time against terrorism.   
      
   Now the US military is revealing details of how it is planning to fight this   
   very different type of war.   
      
   It is also preparing the public for a global conflict which it believes will   
   dominate the next 20 years.   
      
   The nerve centre of this war against terror is the huge MacDill airbase in   
   Tampa, Florida.   
      
   Surrounded by white sand beaches, palm trees and two golf courses it looks   
   more like a holiday camp than a military camp.   
      
   But inside US Central Command (Centcom) generals are planning what they call   
   "fourth-generational warfare".   
      
   Centcom is already responsible for operations in the Middle East, South Asia   
   and Africa - as well as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and now it is   
   planning a campaign that will eventually span the globe.   
      
   Aiming at al-Qaeda   
      
   The man behind what the US military calls its "principles of the Long War"   
   is Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt.   
      
   Gen Kimmitt, Centcom's deputy director of plans and strategy, told BBC News:   
   "Even if Iraq stabilised tomorrow the Long War would continue."   
      
      
        I'm an artillery officer, and I can't fire cannons at the internet. Our   
   future posture is still being worked out   
         Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt   
         US Central Command   
      
   So as Centcom tries to control events in Iraq, he is also planning a   
   strategy for "nothing less than the defeat of al-Qaeda across the world and   
   its associated movements strung together by extremist ideology".   
   To achieve victory the US military will have to change dramatically, he   
   says.   
      
   Like the terrorists it will have to build international networks, Gen   
   Kimmitt says, making better use of "soft power" - diplomacy, finance, trade   
   and technology.   
      
   "I'm an artillery officer, and I can't fire cannons at the internet," he   
   says, referring to what he sees as one of the key weapons of the modern age.   
      
   Instead, he argues that the US military must try to break down "old   
   mind-sets and bureaucracies" and build new relationships with other   
   agencies - like the FBI, the police and the state department - through what   
   in military jargon are called "joint inter-agency task forces".   
      
   Improved posture   
      
   The theory is that the military cannot fight alone against such a nimble and   
   deadly foe as al-Qaeda, and must build a new kind of worldwide network as   
   flexible and smart as its enemy.   
      
   As a result Gen Kimmitt predicts a much lower profile for traditional US   
   forces.   
      
      
   He believes that will help win hearts and minds, by ending the impression   
   that the US is occupying the Middle East.   
   "Our future posture is still being worked out," he says.   
      
   "But I would like to see to the number of troops in the Middle East cut to a   
   fraction of the current 300,000, by at least a half."   
      
   The US military is planning a big increase in the role of special forces,   
   the smaller, specially-trained teams able to speak local languages -   
   including Arabic - deploy rapidly and work with the armies of other nations.   
      
   Trailer park diplomacy   
      
   Outside Centcom sits a symbol of the new approach and its complexity - a   
   large trailer park with fluttering flags atop each trailer representing each   
   of the 63 nations represented at Centcom, from Denmark to El Salvador.   
      
   Inside each trailer, a small team of military liaison officers shares   
   information with their American colleagues and co-ordinates action in Iraq,   
   Afghanistan and throughout the region.   
      
   According to an American general working with the coalition, the aim is to   
   maintain this loose-knit arrangement to fight the global war on terror.   
      
   "We want to make it a lasting organisation," he said.   
      
   "We don't want it to dissolve like it did after Desert Shield and Desert   
   Storm."   
      
      
   However, America's difficult relationship with some allies after 11   
   September 2001 suggests that this will be a challenge.   
   France and Germany, for example, opposed the war in Iraq. Rear Adm Jacques   
   Mazars, the French representative at Centcom, says French and American   
   forces co-operate more successfully on the ground than their politicians.   
      
   But, he said, running a coalition for a sustained period would be hard.   
      
   "On the conceptual level we can agree," he said. "There will be a long war   
   to be won. But on the practical level it will be harder."   
      
   One regular cause of tension among the allies is the sharing of sensitive   
   intelligence.   
      
   "There are some things you wouldn't share with a neighbour and even an   
   ally," one senior US officer said.   
      
   There are signs that despite the difficulties, the new coalition against   
   terror is here to stay.   
      
   The Pentagon admits its vision is not yet fully realised, but it has already   
   started work on a new building in the MacDill complex, providing a   
   bricks-and-mortar home for the international occupants of the trailer park.   
      
   "I can't see there ever being a completely homogenous coalition dealing with   
   worldwide terror," said Col Mark Bibbey, the chief of staff of the British   
   mission at Centcom. "The 63 nations are not signed up to the same view on   
   everything."   
      
   But he added: "You've got to start somewhere. You have to plan ahead. You   
   have to be driving in a particular direction. If we don't start driving now   
   or soon, we'll be behind the curve."   
      
   Story from BBC NEWS:   
   http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4897786.stm   
      
   Published: 2006/04/10 23:12:04 GMT   
      
   © BBC MMVI   
      
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