A lesson of Vietnam that applies to Iraq is “the deeper you bog down in a morass, the more difficult it is to get out,” Sen. Chuck Hagel said Friday.I am a retired Naval Officer and have strong respect for our military. I part ways with the FR knee-jerk support of Bush and his neo-cons on the conduct of the Iraq war, however, over a very very fundamental issue.
The issue is not pro/anti- conservative or pro/anti- war on terror, but rather what is our strategy? What would victory look like if we were to achieve it? How will we achieve that victory? What resources are required? Is the national sacrifice worth the goal defined in the strategy?
As has been abundantly clear, the neo-cons invated Iraq with no goal or strategy beyond "kill Sadam." That strategy takes one bullet or one noose. What then? Well we never looked beyond the noses of Feith and Wolfowitz and Bremer and Cheney and answered the "what then?" We are, however, dealing with the multi-trillion dollar aftermath of "what then."
Realistic military strategy begins with Sun Tsu.
The Art of War
By Sun Tzu
Translated by Lionel Giles
I. Laying Plans
1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance
to the State.
2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety
or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be
neglected.
3. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors,
to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine
the conditions obtaining in the field.
4. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth;
(4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord
with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives,
undismayed by any danger.
7. Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times
and seasons.
8. Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and
security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and
death.
9. The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely,
benevolence, courage and strictness.
10. By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling
of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the
officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army,
and the control of military expenditure.
11. These five heads should be familiar to every general:
he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will
fail.
12. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine
the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in
this wise:--
13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral
law? (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie
the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? (4) On which side is discipline
most rigorously enforced? (5) Which army is stronger? (6) On which side
are officers and men more highly trained? (7) In which army is there the
greater constancy both in reward and punishment?
14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast
victory or defeat.
....
II. Waging War
1. Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there
are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and
a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry
them a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including
entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent
on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver
per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000
men.
2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long
in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped.
If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.
3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of
the State will not be equal to the strain.
4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped,
your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will
spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise,
will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness
has never been seen associated with long delays.
6. There is no instance of a country having benefited from
prolonged warfare.
7. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the
evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying
it on.
8. The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither
are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.
9. Bring war material with you from home, but forage on
the enemy. Thus the army will have food enough for its
needs.
10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be
maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an
army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.
