Posted on 03/21/2003 3:10:48 AM PST by William McKinley
[snip]
Elements | Rapid Dominance | Decisive Force |
Objective | Control the adversary's will, perceptions, and understanding | Prevail militarily and decisively against a set of opposing capabilities defined by the MRC |
Use of Force | Control the adversary's will, perceptions, and understanding and literally make an adversary impotent to act or react | Unquestioned ability to prevail militarily over an opponent's forces and based against the adversary's capabilities |
Force Size | Could be smaller than opposition, but with decisive edge in technology, training, and technique | Large, highly trained, and well-equipped. Materially overwhelming |
Scope | All encompassing | Force against force (and supporting capability) |
Speed | Essential | Desirable |
Casualties | Could be relatively few in number on both sides | Potentially higher on both sides |
Technique | Paralyze, shock, unnerve, deny, destroy | Systematic destruction of military capability. Attrition applicable in some situations |
Could it be that all this technology broadcasting what we are doing is part of the plan, to paralzye, shock, and unnerve the Iraqi enemy?
More like "Look up and crap your drawers"
I heard on Fox that there's a growing belief that if Saddam's not dead, he's close to it. I also heard that a deadline for surrender has been given, and if not met, we return to the initial military plan.
(The deadline is probably to give the Iraqis time to consult with the French on the best way to accomplish total and complete surrender.)
The fifth example is named after the Chinese philosopher-warrior, Sun Tzu. The "Sun Tzu" example is based on selective, instant decapitation of military or societal targets to achieve Shock and Awe.
A subset of the Sun Tzu example is the view that war is deception. In this subset, the attempt is to deceive the enemy into what we wish the enemy to perceive and thereby trick, cajole, induce, or force the adversary. The thrust or target is the perception, understanding, and knowledge of the adversary. In some ways, the ancient Trojan Horse is an early example of deception. However, as we will see, the deception model may have new foundations in the technological innovations that are occurring and in our ability to control the environment.
I started to wonder if what we are seeing right now is actually part of the Shock and Awe campaign. Shock and Awe is part of the Rapid Dominance strategy.
Correct. I read "Shock and Awe -- Achieving Rapid Dominance" yesterday morning and there are a lot of S&E operations that do not engage in violent combat. The behind the scenes S&E aren't well suited to television -- a lot to explain and asks people to think.
It's a new, high-tech implementation of an ancient concept:
In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.
Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
-- Sun Tsu.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.