Operation All Too Unresolved

Pardon my phlegm, but I take issue with the common talk we keep hearing about fighting ISIL. "The fight could take years," we are told, and I believe it was Leon Panetta who recently said, it could be a "thirty-year's war." Thunder poop! It could be. But it most assuredly should not be. Interminable war is how you lose. Consider the words of General von Clausewitz, in his classic On War:

"For the conqueror, the combat can never be finished too quickly, for the vanquished it can never last too long. A speedy victory indicates a higher power of victory, a tardy decision is, on the side of the defeated, some compensation for the loss." ~ Book IV, Chapter VI.

This calculation of war is not even a new one, having been taught by Sun-tzu millennia before in the "The Art of War." I shall quote Mark McNeilly's rendition of it, from his 2001 book "Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare." He draws from Samuel B. Griffith's translation.

"Victory is the main object in war. If this is long delayed, weapons are blunted and morale depressed. When troops attack cities, their strength will be exhausted. When the army engages in protracted campaigns the resources of the state will not suffice." (II.3-II.4)

McNeilly, a former infantry captain, opines that if the threat is grave, and if the calculation includes diplomacy, coalition building, and, oh by the way, public support, Sun Tzu, and I think von Clausewitz as well (who military strategists have found to be quite like-minded) would recommend securing victory over the terrorist threat as expeditiously as possible. Certainly not a thirty-year's war.

Here, we have just leap-frogged another problem. American public support for the war as it must be fought is simply non-existent. The war cannot be fought without that element. Sun Tzu emphasized the will of the people to fight as one of the five factors, or five "heads" of the decision to commit the state to the "grave" matter of war.

What then do we conclude? The US is not prepared for war against ISIL. The field of battle is conditioned to their advantage, not ours. Time is on their side, not ours. The commitment to the sacrifice of the fight is on their side, not ours. Their supply lines are short, ours are long. The calculation is clear. The fight belongs to the indigenous powers of the region. We should support them as we can. But there should not be any US war on ISIL; never mind a thirty year one. Let us not be baited into acting like fools.

Twitter: @unrefuted
Email: myirrefutableopinion@gmail.com

Originally published October 15, 2014 on blog.com