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Information in the Western Way of Warfare: Too Much of a Good Thing?
Author(s) -
Betz David J.,
Lee Sangho
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
pacific focus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1976-5118
pISSN - 1225-4657
DOI - 10.1111/j.1976-5118.2006.tb00324.x
Subject(s) - battlespace , victory , information warfare , bandwagon effect , adversary , information operations , disinformation , dilemma , computer security , computer science , law , political science , political economy , sociology , operations research , engineering , politics , social media , philosophy , epistemology
The proponents of Information War (IW) have mesmerized the public during recent years on the effectiveness and utility of this new style of warfare that ‘system of systems’, the network of sensors, communication and precision weapons, will bring power to achieve dominant battlespace knowledge, near‐perfect mission assignment, and immediate battlespace assessment which will lift the fog of war and bring victory home. However, the War in Iraq since April 2003 has delivered a sobering and salutary reminder that this is a seductive illusion. The actual practice of IW is tricky to pull off at the operational‐tactical level; there have been some real achievements nonetheless. On the Strategic level, however, the results are bad. Judging from the state of the current War on Terror, the insurgents are as adept as the West in waging IW, as they methodically employ unconventional ‘asymmetric’ tactics, manipulate media and make their opponent bleed. It is not only the West which can wage information campaigns; in fact it is not at all certain that the West is actually much good at this aspect of warfare in the strategic arena that really counts. While IW offers great advantages in information‐driven battlefield, there should be a realization the actual victory cannot be achieved with information alone especially on the strategic level. This is the dilemma which West has to address, in particular, in future struggles against unconventional opponents.