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Accession Number:
ADA326920
Title:
An Examination of Nation Assistance: Should the U.S. Support Third World Efforts to Combat Internal Lawlessness, Subversion, and Insurgency?
Descriptive Note:
Corporate Author:
ARMY WAR COLL CARLISLE BARRACKS PA
Report Date:
1997-01-27
Pagination or Media Count:
50.0
Abstract:
This paper examines the relevancy of the current National Military Strategys NMS strategic concept of Peacetime Engagement and its component of Nation Assistance in a post Cold War, Third World environment. This strategy promotes the need to assist friendly nations in upholding democratic ideas by supporting their efforts to combat internal lawlessness, subversion, and insurgency. The strategy also endorses conducting civil military operations, engaging in bilateral and multilateral exercises, sharing intelligence and communications, and providing logistics support. This latter use of Nation Assistance appears to be both legitimate and helpful to Third World democracies. However, the first component of this strategy has historically led the United States into costly Third World conflicts that this research shows has had few positive effects, and often has been harmful. This paper also examines this strategy in terms of vital interest. Regional assessments of Africa, Asia, and Latin America revealed no vital interest for the United States to conduct insurgency or counterinsurgency missions under the guise of Nation Assistance in any of these regions. As a result, this paper recommends this component of Nation Assistance be eliminated from the NMS and replaced with economic related assistance that will better serve our goal of promoting democracy.
Distribution Statement:
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
