Musings For A New Approach
I remember a long time ago believing that the days of men being dropped into a “war zone”, planes flying above dropping bombs, tanks firing, all of these were soon to be relics, things of the past that were used before we came up with something better. Ever since the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, something has needled me, prodding me.
Initially I thought it was my inherent hatred of war and violence.
But it runs deeper than that.
For it seems that the swaggering, arrogance of war is so unnecessary now that we have technology. Covert, stealth infiltration would appear to be not only the path to more information and understanding in regards to those that mean us harm, but it is also significantly more effective for the non-traditional standards of warfare that seem to be at play here. The standards of war have notoriously been “demolition to surrender” – destroying the infrastructure of a nation, killing innocents in order to force an outcry for it seems that as long as the soldiers are killing soldiers it causes less of a groundswell of dissent than does the slaughter of innocent civilians. Although soldiers’ lives are just as important there is the general consensus that they signed up to be part of the missions and that innocent women, children, seniors did not. The overriding feeling in regards to the Iraq, to Lebanon is that the military has entered what most of us considered a no-fight zone, the area that is predominantly civilians.
But this is what happens when the traditional military meets the very different forces of Hezbollah, Al Quaida, etc. which although organized are more surreptitious. When the IDF says that Hezbollah uses civilians as shields, they are only partially correct. For the civilians are their families, their neighbors, and the communities. The problem is: you cannot fight an idea with tanks and artillery shells. It’s kind of like trying to clean up an oil spill with dynamite. It just blows it apart where it scatters and masses together again somewhere else. You need to incorporate a natural force – some kind of parasite that digs the taste of oil, natural agents that counter the chemical makeup of the substance.
What needs happen is this. The bombing, the aggression, the slaughtering needs to end. We need to withdraw our military and turbo charge our intelligence. The British foiled the airline hijack plan not by lobbing grenades into the bay window of some flats in East Finchley, but by observing, infiltrating, monitoring activity. There was no need to listen to Auntie Gladys’ phone conversation with her neighbor, there was no need to see where Simon’s paycheck went. You don’t need to monitor the entire population because that would be a catastrophic waste of resources. Time, money, effort. Wasted.
Focus on the obvious.
Be smart.
No fake news of thwarting danger right before an election.
That is sadly transparent as it has been wildly overdone. This cannot be an isolationist “go it alone” action. All the countries that want to put a stop to this sort of destruction need to participate. The most important goal would have to be understanding the motivations, the reasons that someone would be compelled to not only sacrifice his or her own life but the lives of tens, hundreds even thousands of completely innocent people in order to make a point. We cannot minimize the reasons; we can shove all these individual decisions under some umbrella category of martyrdom for Allah or virgins. To minimize the opposition is to weaken your own ability to prepare for defense. Any one who has ever played anyone in a game of anything knows that if you underestimate your opponent you empower him; you arm him with your ignorance. We must know and understand all the reasons, all the motivations. We must delve deep into the organizations and into the psyche. All those too impatient to make this sort of effort, who instead would prefer to go and blow the crap out of them do not understand the “post 9/11” era. It is time for intelligence.
I remember a long time ago believing that the days of men being dropped into a “war zone”, planes flying above dropping bombs, tanks firing, all of these were soon to be relics, things of the past that were used before we came up with something better. Ever since the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, something has needled me, prodding me.
Initially I thought it was my inherent hatred of war and violence.
But it runs deeper than that.
For it seems that the swaggering, arrogance of war is so unnecessary now that we have technology. Covert, stealth infiltration would appear to be not only the path to more information and understanding in regards to those that mean us harm, but it is also significantly more effective for the non-traditional standards of warfare that seem to be at play here. The standards of war have notoriously been “demolition to surrender” – destroying the infrastructure of a nation, killing innocents in order to force an outcry for it seems that as long as the soldiers are killing soldiers it causes less of a groundswell of dissent than does the slaughter of innocent civilians. Although soldiers’ lives are just as important there is the general consensus that they signed up to be part of the missions and that innocent women, children, seniors did not. The overriding feeling in regards to the Iraq, to Lebanon is that the military has entered what most of us considered a no-fight zone, the area that is predominantly civilians.
But this is what happens when the traditional military meets the very different forces of Hezbollah, Al Quaida, etc. which although organized are more surreptitious. When the IDF says that Hezbollah uses civilians as shields, they are only partially correct. For the civilians are their families, their neighbors, and the communities. The problem is: you cannot fight an idea with tanks and artillery shells. It’s kind of like trying to clean up an oil spill with dynamite. It just blows it apart where it scatters and masses together again somewhere else. You need to incorporate a natural force – some kind of parasite that digs the taste of oil, natural agents that counter the chemical makeup of the substance.
What needs happen is this. The bombing, the aggression, the slaughtering needs to end. We need to withdraw our military and turbo charge our intelligence. The British foiled the airline hijack plan not by lobbing grenades into the bay window of some flats in East Finchley, but by observing, infiltrating, monitoring activity. There was no need to listen to Auntie Gladys’ phone conversation with her neighbor, there was no need to see where Simon’s paycheck went. You don’t need to monitor the entire population because that would be a catastrophic waste of resources. Time, money, effort. Wasted.
Focus on the obvious.
Be smart.
No fake news of thwarting danger right before an election.
That is sadly transparent as it has been wildly overdone. This cannot be an isolationist “go it alone” action. All the countries that want to put a stop to this sort of destruction need to participate. The most important goal would have to be understanding the motivations, the reasons that someone would be compelled to not only sacrifice his or her own life but the lives of tens, hundreds even thousands of completely innocent people in order to make a point. We cannot minimize the reasons; we can shove all these individual decisions under some umbrella category of martyrdom for Allah or virgins. To minimize the opposition is to weaken your own ability to prepare for defense. Any one who has ever played anyone in a game of anything knows that if you underestimate your opponent you empower him; you arm him with your ignorance. We must know and understand all the reasons, all the motivations. We must delve deep into the organizations and into the psyche. All those too impatient to make this sort of effort, who instead would prefer to go and blow the crap out of them do not understand the “post 9/11” era. It is time for intelligence.
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