America's experience with asymmetric warfare: Past, present and future

As the War in Iraq continues to rage, many in the White House, State Department, Department of Defense and outside government are left to wonder if it was possible to foresee the difficulty the United States is currently having with Sunni nationalists and Islamic extremists. Recent American military experience offers significant insight into this question. With the fog of the Cold War finally lifting and clarity returning to the nature of conflict, the dominance of asymmetry in the military experience of the United States is all too evident.; Lebanon (1982-1984), Somalia (1992-1994) and Afghanistan (2001-2004) offer recent and relevant insight into successes and failures of American attempts to combat adversaries utilizing asymmetric conflict to combat the United States when it intervened in these three states. The results illustrate the difficulty of engaging adversaries unwilling to wage a conventional war and the need for improved strategic and tactical doctrine. Further research is warranted as the United States is likely to engage in asymmetric conflicts in the future and face similar tactics to those faced in the three cases examined.