The philosophy of war

London Calling

The philosophy of war…

The Freedom fighters become Terrorists and the Terrorists become Freedom Fighters?

It’s the motive behind the philosophy of war that counts and if you go back far enough you will discover that there was no philosophy… unless the enemy was weaker and the War deemed winnable…

Afghanistan is not a War…Iraq was not a War, but its outcome is worth fighting for and winnable for the right reasons…it just took a long time getting there due to lack of Philosophy, Wisdom and historical knowledge and strong leadership…

fleety3000

Although it took a kidnapping to produce this piece its still an excellent bit of reporting
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/world/asia/18hostage.html

Noa Zrk

London Calling
"Afghanistan is not a War…Iraq was not a War, but its outcome is worth fighting for and winnable for the right reasons…it just took a long time getting there due to lack of Philosophy, Wisdom and historical knowledge and strong leadership".

We clash on this view. In just about every aspect of your statement. Of course they are both wars, fought in furtherance of perceived objectives.
They are expensive, bloody and un-winnable, hence all the back footing and withdrawals.

Boutique wars both, fought for New Labour vanity, that have merely served to de-stabalise the politics of the middle east and the sub continent respectively.

I refer you to my posting on this weeks Wall concerning Edward Luttwak's cogently argued alternative strategy of Byzantine war and politics to competently address such threats.

London Calling

With respect Noa, we do not clash, civilisations clash, we disagree…

I marched here in London against the invasion of Iraq prior to operation Shock and Awe…and the invasion did shock and many were in awe, but not for the right reasons when you have thousands of cruise missiles raining down on you and the desert Rats were still searching for WMD’S. Saddam Hussein offered to leave Iraq leading upto the invasion, one man or one hundred thousand Iraqi civilians dead? Where were the UN? And where was the Philosophy, Wisdom, historical knowledge and strong leadership".

Iraq as you know was the cradle of our civilisation the Ancient City of Suma/Sumerian, the capital of which was Ur and the birthplace of Abraham. I am pleased to hear that the Ancient city is being uncovered further and shall rise from the sand…What has this got to do with War? Nothing…but it does strike me as odd that we do not educate our children of our birthright as a civilisation and that the Egyptian Empire appears first on the timeline…

Now you can go back to building your Boat…:) your six thousand years too late…

Nicholas

London Calling - cruise missiles don't really rain down. This was not the Blitz. The main problem was not the liberation campaign but the failure of the Allies to include and manage a workable plan for post-liberation government of the country. They destroyed the government infrastructure of Hussein but left a vacuum and from the vacuum came chaos - and insurgency.

I remember a real chump of a senior British Army officer (a battalion commander, Lt Col, I think) being interviewed shortly before the liberation of Basra and being specifically asked how law and order would be maintained in the city afterwards. "I'm not a policeman" he replied scornfully. Indeed he wasn't. But the senior officers of the British Army responsible for the governing of Germany in 1945-46 would have been appalled by this man's ignorant and irresponsible answer and by what happened next. Apparently the essentials of military government and martial law are not taught - or perhaps not learned - at Sandhurst, maybe for political reasons which are closer to home. The Allied military government of Iraq following the liberation campaign was in name only and presided over anarchy, even the first tentative attempts to establish a semblance of order using indigenous expertise were negated by the Bush administration's decision to purge the Iraqi administration and military infrastructure.

In Basra the British had neither the political will nor force of arms to pacify the city. They were still, mentally, on the streets of Northern Ireland, imagining that a civil government and civil police were somehow functioning alongside them. The penny packet "task force" imposed by Brown's defence budget parsimony and decades of MoD muddle guaranteed the bloodshed and shame which followed.

The Allies abrogated their responsibility to the liberated people of Iraq and that is where the real fault lay. That should have been the subject of an enquiry - not the causes of the war.

Noa Zrk

London Calling? Clash or Disagreement? No matter...

The invasion of Iraq was indeed an unneccesary tragedy, culminating in the Islamic radicalisation and de-stabilisation of the middle east. The rump of Iraq left after the first Gulf war left an unenviable choice between the incumbent dictator and the physical and polical divisions that we see on geo-physical and political fault lines, leaving Iran as the dominant regional power.

Afghanistan is another such touch stone. Poor, indefensible, un winnable, incapable of being held conventionally, unchangeable, bloody minded.
Not soothed, but a problem exacerbated by a permanent foreign military presence.

We should establish tribal and regional alliances, support them indirectly. Project force if required.
Alternatively, a bleaker view would see it as an excellent, if expensive, source and opportunity of military training for a future clash of civilisations.

On that thought perhaps, we have an urgent need to revisit the need to build a new, metaphorical ark, to address the present and future political storms we face. As Noah said, its not too late, yet.

Nicholas Hallam

Excellent article. Just as in "Balkan Ghosts" he goes way beyond the usual journalistic level of detail on the geographic, historical and cultural context of the problems. Makes me quite ashamed of some shallow thinking I have been guilty of concerning Afghanistan.