"At this writing, the American military response to 11 September has been confined to the war in Afghanistan. It may be too early to look at "lessons learned", but it is not too early for an assessment of whether or not we have been successful fighting Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) as operations unfold in Afghanistan against the Taliban or Al Qaeda. Further, it is not too early to adjust our tactics, techniques, and even the â01CAmerican Way of Warâ01D to combat an illusive, determined, and deadly enemy that operates outside the framework of the nation-state."

An interesting writeup on Fourth Generation Warfare and how our Second Generation war infrastructure is adapting.  The conclusion is that while Special Operations seems to have the right idea, the leadership, and the defense infrastructure as a whole is not ready for this type of war.  In addition, it briefly touches on the need to convince the enemy of the immorality of terrorism, and to right some of the perceived wrongs the enemy holds against us.  The article is a few months old, but I thought it presented some interesting points, particulary when measuring the current Isreali/Palestinian conflict.  The current mess in the Holy Land would seem to demonstrate the inevitable folly of trying to fight a Fourth Generation opponent with Second Generation tools and tactics.