Occupation and Governance: The New Face of Operational Art
Abstract
The United States and many other countries are engaged in the Global War on Terror using all the elements of their national power. Given historical precedent and the plethora of rogue and failing states in existence today, future large-scale military intervention in some areas is virtually inevitable. A multinational military coalition is presently struggling to stabilize Iraq two years after initial occupation and governance operations met with limited success. This modern operation stands in sharp contrast to the notably successful occupations of Germany and Japan more than half a century ago. If these types of operations are inevitable, but the U.S. military has lost proficiency in their execution, it is incumbent upon professional soldiers to remedy the problems. This monograph identifies the effects required to execute a successful stability and reconstruction operation following a kinetic combat operation, determines the shortcomings in current doctrine's ability to plan for those effects, and makes the recommended changes to remedy the problems. Historical case studies on the occupations of Germany and Japan and the more recent operations in Iraq provide insight into the requirements for the success of occupation forces. These requirements, juxtaposed with a survey of both past and present occupation and governance doctrine, provide a basis for analyzing the effectiveness of the current doctrine. The author concludes that, although the national goals and objectives are generally accomplished in the occupation and reconstruction phase of an operation, current doctrine encourages planning from the perspective that the kinetic combat phase is decisive. The specific doctrine dealing with occupation and military governance is fragmented and diluted in a number of the Joint and Army doctrinal manuals. The remedy to the problem is to rewrite the capstone manuals, placing emphasis on planning the post-combat or occupation phase first, as the core of the campaign.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 25, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA450733
Entities
People
- Gregory L. Rhoden
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College