tual heart of von Clausewitz' argument is
contained in his first two chapters. In the first he asks a simple and fundamental question: "What is War?" In the second, he discusses in general terms the relationship of ends and means in war.
What, in fact, is war? To von Clausewitz, it is simply "an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will" (p. 75). The U.S., fundamentally, wishes to compel Iraq to abandon its occupation of Kuwait. Iraq wishes to compel the U.S. to accept, or at any rate acquiesce in, its permanent occupation and annexation of Kuwait. Both sides have brought moral and legalistic "force" to bear, but there is no anticipation of these having any real impact on the outcome, which will be determined either by combat or by one side or the other's abandoning its goal rather than face combat.
If, argues von Clausewitz, the nature of war is the use of force to compel the enemy to do one's will, then the ultimate goal of all military operations is to eliminate the enemy's means of resistance to disarm the enemy (p. 77) by destruction of his army. Other military operations, such as the occupation of territory, should never
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