General Martin Dempsey
Chariman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Crredit: www.defense.gov

Remarkably, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein chose that moment to swim against the liberalizing tide of history by invading Kuwait in the summer of 1990. As part of the 3rd Armored Division, Dempsey took part in Operation Desert Storm, which in a matter of days in January 1991 expelled the Iraqi Army from Kuwait. As part of a Cavalry unit, Dempsey helped spearhead a “left hook” maneuver that sealed off the path of retreat for vaunted Republican Guard units, which were methodically annihilated in the desert. At the time it was tempting to believe that unprecedented power might end the 20th century scourge of state-on-state aggression.

“There was a moment when the fighting was over when those of us who thought about war, and the future of warfare, kind of realized that we had become so good at that form of high-intensity maneuver that it was almost inconceivable that anyone would try and fight us that way again [on a conventional battlefield], or […]