Posted on 08/18/2005 6:06:22 PM PDT by Yasotay
I am a military history major graduate from the United States Military Academy. The intent of this post is to take another brief look at the current conduct of war, in August 2005, by using the “Principles of War”. I am not on active duty, nor do I have access to any classified information pertaining to this war. Violating some principles of war does not mean we will lose this war, but these violations are NOT helping America win this war.
The first principle discussed is “Offensive. The United States has been on the defensive for over two years. It is time to go back on the Offensive. We need to overthrow the government of the second ‘Axis of Evil’, Iran. If needed, we also need to overthrow the Syrian government. President Bush in a speech at Fort Bragg stated that we need to stay on the offense. I say we need to go back on the offensive.
The next Principle of War that I will now discuss is “Unity of Command”. This principle was being violated for the first 2 years of the War on Terror. I am sure having the Commander of CENTCOM being bypassed and using SOCOM, created many problems. Bremer and the CPA is another example. At least those two problems have been fixed.
The third Principle of War to be looked at is “Objective”. Every military operation should have a clearly defined, decisive and attainable objective. The ultimate military objective of war is the defeat of the enemy’s armed forces. I no longer believe that this is a War on Terror. This is the first war fought over the control, ownership and use of nuclear weapons. The primary threat to the US is a nuclear attack. We have already been attacked with biological agents. While it took the US only 3 ½ years to develop nuclear weapons, Iran and terrorists have been trying to buy, steal or develop nuclear weapons for over twenty years. We must expect that they will (or have) seceded. Therefore, one of our primary objectives has to be the continued denial or destruction of our enemies’ nuclear weapons.
The fourth is “Mass”. The main effort is where your combat power is concentrated at the critical point and time to achieve decisive results. I hope this becomes Iran.
The fifth is “Economy of Force”. Afghanistan has been a great EoF mission. There may not be a better example in all of history. I hope that Iraq also becomes an EOF mission rather then the ‘Main Effort’.
The sixth is “Simplicity”. With everyone saying that this is going to be a long and complex campaign, I wonder what has happened to the basic principle of “KISS”.
Number seven is “Surprise”. While the terrorists used strategic surprise on September 11th, the enemy has appeared to have gone into extended hiding. When they stand and confront us, they die. They clearly will continue to be able to gain tactical surprise. While US forces never had strategic surprise, we have always been blessed with being able to gain operational or tactical surprise. I hope we continue to do well in that arena. The first use of nuclear weapons clearly will be a surprise. I hope we are ready.
Eight is “Security”. It appears that our combat forces are continuing to take enough measures to protect our combat power from observation, sabotage, annoyance, surprise, the press and hopefully espionage. I do not want to write anything else that may compromise that principle.
Last, but not least is “Maneuver”. I would think battalion and brigade heavy task force(s) with special forces (not UofAs) based in Iraq and Afghanistan could support operations inside of Iran. Tom Clancy may have to write a new novel.
In conclusion, I hope that I am wrong in my observations about the principles of war that were being violated. Something that Americans have always been better at then any of our enemies is learning from our errors, correcting our mistakes and driving on to victory. Let hope THAT history repeats itself.
Well I was wet .... frozen .... exhausted .... scared .... and did I say hungry? Yup Hooah school ... I got lucky and made it.
Back then, we would have shot the bastards.
Sure, the first part of the movie was fairly true to the book. Heinlein was a harda33 about things like citizenship, but so were many in the old world of the Greek city-states when war appeared to be a necessity and peace was just a chance to learn how to be slaves.
You need to keep in mind Clausewitz' distinction between "total war" and "cabinet wars". The former engage the whole nation in a battle for survival. The latter are initiated by politicians and fought for political and economic interests.
The clearest indication that this is not "total war", like WW II, is that there has been no declaration of war. Instead Congress passed some mealy-mouthed resolutions authorizing the enforcement of some UN resolutions.
Actually, the United States has engaged in non-War wars since WW II. Korea was a "United Nations Police Action".
No war was declared in Vietnam.
War was never declared for the first Gulf war, not to mention Panama and Grenada.
So you were sure about this looking like the "War on Drugs" -- it is only a war in the rhetorical sense.
No. Your problem is you want to apply conventional warfare to an unconventional war. You also forget that you must have the backing of the American people. You have no such political consensus on Iran or Syria.
Iraq is an offensive move in the overall strategy against Islamic Terrorism. Iraq is our kill zone where we bring the Terrorists out of hiding into a Battle field of our choosing. We do not have the political will to go after everyone everywhere. Iraq is doable, Iran/Syria are future battles that the bulk of Americans do not have the will to do at this time.
Look up the term Operational Overreach. What you advocate is a policy for that.
For a historical analogy think of Iraq as the 1943 Invasion of Italy. Just like Italy for the Allies, Iraq is a step necessary in the context of a broader war against Islamic Terrorism.
True but we can also use the same external threads against our enemies ..... Iran might be weaker politically and socially then the US.
Sad but true ... but FR is a start!
Would a blockade or oil help us or hurt us before hostilities, and if so, would it be effective?
How would the Iranians respond?
Well I guess we are just going have to do it someway. If the internet had been available in the 60's and 70's Southeast Asia might have worked out different.
An excellent point. Right NOW this is a cabinet war. It may develop into total war, but we are not there yet. After the London atrocity some commentator made the point
"We have the means to destroy our enemies but lack the will, our enemies have the will but lack the means
The race is on to see who achieves what first.
Very possibly. Do we have some theory of how to dislodge the power of the religious claque over there?
When Bush this summer at Ft Bragg said that we must stay of the Offensive, I tried to read the tea leaves and hoped he meant at all levels. To stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons something has to happen. I can only hope we will be proactive and not reactive.
Thanks for the link
The trick was to hide the candy bars in the machine gun ammo. Fire a few rounds and out came a candy bar. And they say it doesn't get cold in Georgia, I've seen it below zero around Dahlonega.
Patton was Quoting Fredrick the Great. The correct quote translates more like Audacity, Audacity always Audacity. However, as have pointed out before, this would be applying conventional strategy to an unconventional war.
Stop driving our cars one day a week and the Mullahs and the Saudi Sheikhs would choke on the excess and the price would drop, more from the psychology than the actual surplus of gasoline.
Stop driving our cars one day a week and the Mullahs and the Saudi Sheikhs would choke on the excess and the price would drop, more from the psychology than the actual surplus of gasoline.
How do we accomplish by indirection, that which would be so costly by direct action in this context. a la Lidell Hart?
What do you propose that achieves that result?
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