Not Learning Lessons

Abstract

Aaron Rapport. (2015). Waging War, Planning Peace: US Noncombat Operations and Major Wars . Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, and London, 266 pp., $29.95 paperback (ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-5358-8). This book is a cross-case study of how the United States plans for and executes noncombat operations (such as activities related to state-building, humanitarian assistance, and pacification) in the midst of war or in postwar contexts. The study is a very good example of how history may offer important insights into current crises. Rapport’s archive-based chapters on post-WWII Germany, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq compel us to think about contemporary conflicts and how the United States positions and plans for war, occupation, and transitional administrations. It is difficult to read this work and not to think of present-day Iraq and Afghanistan, and even Libya, Ukraine, Syria, and Iran—countries on the US security radar and thus the targets of contingency planning. The notion of noncombat operations in the midst of war (or very soon after it) seems worth unpacking, especially given the securitization of such environments. Can a military that has just used, or is still using, massive force ever engage in noncombat operations in the same territory? Certainly military organizations can be massive … roger.macginty{at}manchester.ac.uk