The necessity of a plan for conflict resolution should be intuitively obvious for policymakers, yet a survey of recent conflicts, including Afghanistan and Iraq, shows that not to be the case. Beyond Guns and Steel: A War Termination Strategy provides a practical approach to establishing a plan for war termination and conflict resolution before the bullets fly.
In explaining the difference between strategy and policy, Colonel Dominic J. Caraccilo clarifies the most important, and often the most constraining, element of a nation's power―its resources. He posits that termination strategy and conflict resolution are interdependent and need to be included in conflict plans from the outset. Caraccilo's book fills a void in current strategy for the development of long-term plans that bring conflicts to timely and acceptable conclusions, providing a methodology that allows interagency requirements and resources for war termination to be defined, allocated, and employed effectively.
Examples taken from the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with models of war termination successes and failures to enhance the understanding of scenarios for possible resolutionA full array of definitions offering clarity for the reader seeking to grasp the book's methodology for war terminationPrimary source documentation related to the author's seven combat deployments to the Middle East and over five years of personal involvement in combat and its aftermath.Vignettes from history dating from the Revolutionary War to the recent wars in Afghanistan and IraqSidebars offering relevant charts, graphs, and newspaper articlesExamples of conflict resolution to enhance an understanding of war termination outcomesFirsthand accounts from various military officers in the form of Staff College manuscriptsA robust listing of books, interviews, documents, and articles on war termination and conflict resolution theories