JMA, in using the Wiki -
Limited War as a doctrinal publication (quoting from it: "This military-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it." - go to it, young South African, go to it !!).
That being said, its minimal content does mention Korea and Vietnam - which allows me to segué into what I was going to post anyway.
During and since Korea, US practice has been for civilians to not only intervene in the military decision-making process, but to control it and make military decisions. In short, we have seen a steady increase in the amount of civilian micro-management of military operations. Given today's technology, the President of the United States could indeed be that legendary Strategic Corporal - and a Tactical Corporal as well. (thumbs down)
Sticking within the timeframe of JMA's Wiki, I've known some of the civilian players in the national security civilian-military interface from those conflicts. One could rank their competence in their civilian pursuits over a range to which reasonable people might differ (all were certainly NOT outstanding).
But, one conclusion as to which I have a firm belief, is that none of them that I've known was competent to make military decisions. None of them. FULL STOP. I'm NOT competent to make military decisions; but at least I try to understand them and military doctrines.
Coming back to "limited war", you'd have a ton of paper (if you'd print it out) on US doctrine and commentary on "limited war". Someone else can provide a reading list.
This snip (written by Dave Petraeus in the 1980s) simply illustrates the futility of relying on "limited war" as some sort of "cost control":
Never Again Schoolmates.jpg
Gavin et al speak for themselves.
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