Thomas Barnett, author of the Pentagon’s New Map, provides a summary assessment of the global war on terror in a recent blog entry Judgment on GWOT.

Key quote: “OBL and Al Qaeda put the System Perturbation of 9/11 on us, but we decided how to run down the horizontal waves of disruption that ensued, and that’s a basic rule set of System Perturbations: super-empowered individuals can trigger vertical scenarios, but only governments have the massive resources necessary to engineer long-term horizontal scenarios in response, like creating DHS or seeking to transform the Middle East. We don’t get to choose the vertical scenarios, they choose us. But we do get to choose the horizontal ones we pursue in response to the vertical ones, and so long as those choices are wise, then we’re really in control. My verdict is then: DHS, bad choice, transforming Middle East, good choice but so far bad execution. DHS only perverts America and wastes money, whereas transforming the Middle East is a solid, realistic, strategic choice that requires our defense establish to dramatically alter itself for the challenge.”