New Wars

This interesting article from the Guardian tells us to steel ourselves for a new type of warfare which older generations may not recognize:

Today's wars are fought by professional armies, not by conscript people's armies. As Dr Reid said, that means that most people now no longer have experience that allows them to apply a wartime or battlefield context to such conflicts. But that is just the start of the changes to which modern societies must all adjust. Today's military personnel may be highly-trained professionals, but they are also empowered adults who inhabit the modern communications age. Today's soldiers can carry cameras or mobile phones on which they bear witness not just to the lighter side of military life - seen in last year's squaddie Amarillo video for example - but also to the darker side - like the US photos from Abu Ghraib and the recent British army beatings video, not one of which was the work of the professional media...