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Are we reinventing the wheel?
LtCol Stanton S. Coerr's article, "Fifth-Generation Warfare: Warfare Versus the Nonstate" (MCG, Jan09), introduces several ideas that describe current and future conflicts. The author states, "[O]ur next conflict could well be small, morally confusing, and idea centered, combining the worst ends of Saigon, Mogadishu, 11 September 2001, and Baghdad." LtCol Coerr's first point is that Americas fifth-generation warfare (5GW) irregular opponent may not have a center of gravity (COG). His second is that the state will lose its position as the prime mover and redresser of grievance. The third is that success in 5GW is inversely proportional to the amount of military force used. The following are counterpoints to LtCol Coerr's thesis.
COGs
The idea that an irregular warfare opponent has no moral or physical COG depends entirely on one's definition of COG. If an enemy's moral COG is understood to be a leader who provides long-range vision upon which the organization bases its actions, whose physical presence is not required to motivate the organization, and whose reputation leads to recruitment of new members and tacit support by nonmembers, these organizations have moral COGs.
An irregular warfare organization might be lucky enough to happen upon a leader who has the intellect, the charisma, the energy, the vision, and the industry to become a moral COG as defined above. The word luck is appropriate. It was luck that we had Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt when we needed them. It was luck that our Allies had Winston Churchill or Charles de Gaulle. Our enemies are lucky to have leaders like Osama bin Laden, Abu Sayyaf, or Mullah Omar; these men are likely candidates as our enemy's moral COGs. Moral COGs are not required, but when they exist, they can strike a blow against their opponents. The character of irregular warfare does not preclude moral COGs.
An organization's moral COG has certain capabilities, some of which are stated above. In order to do those things, the COG requires physical security, an overarching message, and perhaps an informational vacuum into which to broadcast his message, for example. In fact, this may be the requirement most vulnerable to coalition action. A well-promulgated countermessage, or messages, may cause the moral COG...