Destroying the enemy’s will to fight and sense of destiny
On more than one occasion we have has cause to describe things like “shock and awe” (at least as currently practiced by the West) as “shuck ‘n’ jive” to this particular enemy. How ridiculous of the West to think that destroying some rocket launchers and firing locations with precisely targeted munitions is a way to win this war and impress the enemy with the West’s superiority and prowess — the exact opposite is true in fact. It is a way to win some battles, fair enough, but this is a war about breaking an enemy’s belief system and sense of destiny, and thus his religion-based, divinely-inspired, will to fight. It is, in part, about discrediting the idea of “martyrdom” and the glory of battle as the enemy sees it.
Precision bombing, as practiced by the West, has no impact on these goals. Of course bombing campaigns can make decisive contributions to wars. WWII was ended by a bombing campaign, after all. The Christmas bombing of Hanoi in 1972 was a significant factor in getting a peace agreement signed in the Vietnam War.
This post is not about making a military tactics point, since we don’t have the competence to do so. It is, however, about a strategy point. It appears that in the recent mini-war, “Hezbollah’s fighters emerged from the rubble of towns Israeli leaders lacked the courage to conquer - and the number of terror-soldiers who survived shocked the Israelis,” according to Ralph Peters. That is a horrible outcome. A better outcome would be that fewer of the enemy emerged and those who emerged were shell-shocked and ruined men with no will-to-fight. Those would be interesting images on al Jazeera for both the macho Arab world and the millennarian Persians.
We don’t know how to achieve that outcome. Leafleting southern Lebanon for 72 hours for civilians to leave, then laying waste every village, and then carpet bombing over and over again to drive the remaining enemy mad, and then introducing large numbers of ground forces — would that have in part done the job? It’s hard to imagine it could have done a worse job than the tactics actually employed. However, as we said, we are not writing this to have a debate about military tactics, but objectives.
This enemy will not be defeated until he ceases to believe in the destiny that, in his view, has been promised him by his god. Every psychological victory that the enemy is able to construct from any battle or war is therefore magnified many times in his belief system. If he is to be defeated, his spirit must be crushed and his beliefs destroyed beyond all hope. That is an objective, but not one that can be achieved by precise munitions.
August 17th, 2006 at 7:50 am
I think your assessment is pretty much on target. The terrorists and their sponsors have simply not had to pay much of a price for their activities. We need to make them “pay” so much for these activities that they never want to do them again. Carpet bombing and hunger would likely be effective weapons. But world opinion, which has no power other than words, would be aghast. They would whine and complain. So we bend over backwards to appease the crybabies. And we don’t have any better luck appeasing the crybabies than we do with Islamofascists.
August 17th, 2006 at 9:25 am
At least they don’t have to destroy our will to fight or sense of destiny. We have no will to fight, and live in a destinationless ahistorical present.
August 17th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
“They would whine and complain.”
Let them whine and complain. If Israel is to survive, it needs a nice uninhabitable buffer zone through which noone is permitted to pass and live. Carpet bombing sections of “Palistine” and Lebanon flat would do the trick. These zones can expand in proportion to the range of Hezbollah’s rockets.
August 17th, 2006 at 9:38 pm
Absolutely correct. Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki were all laid to waste for this reason.
Those raids were a message…. Shintoism, Nazism will not stand. Not now. Not ever. Dont even think about doing this to the civilized world again….
August 18th, 2006 at 6:23 am
I posted this (below) to the Khamenei/Condi story of 8/16 and it seems to fit here as well. Sorry if it seems redundant but I think it’s on target.
We must realize the absolute truth to the Khamenei statement quoted here:
“With God’s help you were able to prove that military superiority is not (measured) in the number (of soldiers), planes, warships and tanks. Rather, it depends on the power of faith and holy war”
The West does not (at prestent) have the faith, conviction or desire it needs to win this battle. Although we believe Muslim fanaticism to be an irrational behavior, their extreme devotion to their cause is their power. This is exactly the extent of faith and belief in our ultimate existence that we will need to acquire in order to defeat this enemy. Their will is far superior to ours and gives them the upper hand at present. Can we afford to wait until we have lost the better part of two or three major U.S. cities before our will to survive trumps all?
August 18th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
their faith is their center of gravity.
ok.
agreed.
that said,
their faith is not an unalloyed good.
and nowhere is its triumph guaranteed.
be of good cheer.
otherwise you see precisely what the terror men wish you to see.
October 17th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
re; the first response. he really is a ding fod isn’t he?