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The United States armed-forces-and-society intersection is explored comparing attitudes toward the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan among West Point, Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), and civilian undergraduates. A survey was administered in January and February 2003 to determine if military affiliation is associated with attitudes toward sending troops into Afghanistan after the war started and Iraq before sending troops. Majorities of all students supported both war efforts, though United States Military Academy at West Point and ROTC cadets are somewhat more supportive of both wars compared to civilian students. However, most differences are explained by students' gender and political affiliation, suggesting that differences between groups result from selection effects rather than cultural differences. The authors contend a fourth wave in civil-military affairs potentially has emerged in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 through a civil-military attitude fusion complicated by a gender-politics gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the two most significant deployments of U.S. military force in the ‘global war on terror,’ this article examines U.S. military strategy after September 11, 2001. The main thesis is that the post-9/11 U.S. military strategy is a product of a revised ‘way of war’ that was developed by U.S. armed forces after Vietnam and the first Gulf War, rather than by significant aspects of the post-9/11 environment. The article highlights the influence of the U.S. Army on American strategic culture and the subsequent reliance of the army on technology and conventional warfare—a strategy that eschews the broader social and political implications of warfare. Military outcomes in both Iraq and Afghanistan are seen as reflective of the shortcomings inherent within the model of military strategy that the U.S. Army, in particular, has developed over the last 30 years. The article explains the particular emphases in U.S. grand strategy and recurrent weaknesses in the U.S. response to 9/11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with the interest of Australian Prime Minister John Howard to focus on foreign policy after the terrorist attack that occurred in the U.S. on September 11, 2001. Decision by the Howard government to involve Australia in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan; Activism and alignment of Howard with Australia's allies; Involvement of Australia in the Iraq war.