The United States Military in Limited War

<p> After World War II the United States military increasingly found itself involved in operations that have been described variously as limited wars small wars low intensity conflicts operations other than war support and stability operations and the like. The most common name throughout much of the 1990s was operations other than war (OOTW). During this period there was an explosion of doctrinal material on the subject including a 1993 official field manual listing six principles of OOTW: objective unity of effort legitimacy perseverance restraint and security.</p><p> The author of the present work examines four successful OOTWs (the Greek Civil War Lebanon the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua/Honduras) and four failed ones (Vietnam Beirut Somalia and Haiti) and concludes there is a positive correlation between adherence to the principles and an operation's outcome.</p>