Addressing the Components of Will in the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq

Abstract : A problem for the military strategic planner in the 21st century, as throughout history, is that physical defeat or even destruction of the enemies military does not automatically equal surrender of a hostile population to the will of the victor. There has been much written about the political will and national will as targets in warfare yet within our doctrine the concept of will is not adequately addressed in terms of targeting and effects, perhaps leading military planners to pursue more traditional physical destruction of our enemies while our opponents seek a protracted campaign targeting components of our will. The purpose of this paper is to provide a study of the components of will, its relationship with the concept of a Center of Gravity (CoG) and an analysis of the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq to highlight the components of and targeting of will from both the friendly and enemy perspectives.