It's Not War, but It Can Be Hellish
By PETER EDIDIN

THE United States Army has increasingly been involved in missions, like peacekeeping, requiring it to police civilian societies. But controlling protesters or quelling a riot in a nation with which America is at peace requires different skills and (usually nonlethal) responses than war fighting.

To teach these skills, the Army recently created a Civil Disturbances Operations manual (www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-19-15.pdf), 256 pages long, covering everything from the roots of unrest, to crowd sociology, to the chemicals for dispersing rioters. Excerpts follow.