Editor's Corner.

• Position: Special operations forces - Brief Article - Editorial

The term "defense transformation" so far has been only a buzzword, much like "asymmetrical warfare." Ongoing events in the U.S. military campaign against the al Qaeda organization, however, suggest that some sort of transformation in the way the United States fights wars has begun, in large part as a result of the role played by special operations forces.

The types of combat that U.S. special operations forces have waged in Afghanistan during the past six months offer proof that this unconventional war could not have been as successful thus far had it nor been for the contributions of special operations forces. As events unfolded in the war against the Taliban last fall, the transformation ceased to be just a "product of coffee-shop discussions and theory. ... Now, I think it's real," said Robert Andrews, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.

"You're seeing in Afghanistan that the special operations forces and airpower are a combination that the defense intellectuals are going to have to digest over the coming months and years," said Andrews. "The special operations forces dramatically increased the effectiveness of the air campaign, and on the ground, they turned the Northern Alliance into a conquering army."

Additionally, in Afghanistan, the special-operations gunship--the AC-130--became, in the words of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, "the more appropriate" weapon for...