Are There New Rules Of War?

The day that Iran blew a $137 million US drone out of the sky, I was in the middle of reading Sean McFate’s new book, The New Rules of War. It read like a great big “I told you so.” McFate, a former Special Forces soldier and mercenary, now teaches military strategy.

If half of what he wrote in his book is true — and I feel certain that it is — we are in a heap of trouble.

McFate’s fundamental argument is that war has changed. It used to be something that followed rules and was the domain of actual nations.

No longer.

Today, war happens whenever states, non-state actors, terrorists, drug cartels, billionaires, or even international charitable organizations decide they want war.

Unfortunately, according to McFate, the American military mindset is mired in World War II-style thinking: whoever has the most bullets wins.

That’s no longer the case in the world of insurgencies and failed states. Today, there really are no winners and losers — wars no longer end.

Perhaps this is why average Americans — and the military leadership that serves them — wax nostalgic about World War II, the last war the United States actually fought and won on our terms. McFate points out Hollywood makes new World War II movies every year, because they make us feel safe.

McFate also explains that you’ll never see a Hollywood blockbuster in which the Chinese are the aggressors who get their butts kicked. This is because even entertainment and information have been “weaponized,” as he puts it.

China bought half of Hollywood. Do you really think they’re going to bankroll a movie that makes them look bad?

McFate points out that since 1945, the US has won exactly zero wars. Consider Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. At best, we fought to a draw in those places. More often, we spent billions of dollars (not to mention the lives lost) only to leave those places worse than when we arrived.

What’s a warmonger to do?

McFate says that we have to stop investing trillions of dollars in equipment that has absolutely no use on today’s battlefields. The missile that took out that $100 million worth of drone last week probably cost under $5,000 at “Surface to Air Missiles R Us” or some such online arms bazaar.

Not exactly quality bang for the buck, McFate would argue. What does he suggest? Begin training our military leaders in strategies relevant to today’s asymmetric, non-traditional warfare.

Start them when they’re young, when they’re still in service academies — instead of waiting until they’ve got fifteen years of outmoded old-school tactics built into them, as is the case today.

Next, McFate argues for expanding Special Forces — the entire annual budget for which is currently less than the price of one new, useless F35 fighter jet (if you want to understand why they’re useless, you’ll have to read the book).

Above all, McFate argues that we need to start dealing in reality instead of living in the past.

The United States of America remains the dominant superpower in today’s world. But we’re acting like Goliath when the rest of the world — from the North Vietnamese to the North Koreans, from the Somalians to the Mexican drug cartels — have all figured out how to fight like David.

And if you remember that Bible story, David wins.