Chapter 26 - The American Way of war Observation; what is the “American way of war”? The American way of war was created during the last century. Indeed, the first aim was to defend the country and America is deploying its forces in other countries. They won the Great War (1917-1918) in France. After the “day of infamy” on December 7th 1941, they created a powerful industry and they won World War Two (1941-1945) in Europe and with their aircraft carriers on the Pacific. They twice dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. The USA won the “Cold War” with the same guideline of defense. But, before 1945 they would declare war later than European countries. During the “Cold War” they often backed their allies (NATO or other), and they formally joined the war. For example, they fought the Vietnam War(1961-1975) or Korean War(1950-1953) to combat communism. Since 1990, the USA can trigger or back a war quickly, so they have the highest capacity to carry out an intervention in every country. They have reduced the death toll on a battlefield with their technological superiority, such as drones for example. After 9/11/2001, the USA declared war against rogue states and terrorism; they called this “forewarning war” as Afghanistan (2001- ) or Iraq (1990-1992 and 2003-2011) war. However the opening of “Gitmo” or Guantanamo detainment facility is the most controversial measure of the war on terror. the outbreak: le déclenchement to disrupt: perturber

a guideline: une ligne directrice

an aircraft carrier: un porte-avions

to forewarn: prevenir

to wreak havoc: faire des ravages

to curtail: restreindre to appeal to: faire appel à to trigger: déclencher the go-ahead: le feu vert

to back: appuyer to involve: impliquer a detainment facility: un centre de detention ordnance: munitions, pièce d’artillerie

a lease: un bail to shower: déverser mediateur to take shelter : s’abriter

to secure: garantir

to mediate : servir de