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Aug. 9, 2006 The state of the Middle East is such that either the west follows the dictates of any terrorist group which allies itself with an industrial state, or it occupies the whole of the Middle East. How is this possible one may argue when the US has 150,000 troops stationed in Iraq and still can not dictate any type of policy? And of course the US deafeat in Viet Nam will be bought up. This is a very strange situation. Just half a century or so ago the US allied with Britain and others defeated the fascist counties of Germany, Italy and Japan and then went on to defeat the Soviet Union. Why now is the US so impotent when confronted with the rag tag armies of the east? In a word -public opinion. Eastern countries, except in case where they are numerically superior, traditionaly fight the west by using guerrilla tactics. The advantage to the non western countries occurred following the BOER war. During this conflict 5,000 or so farmers managed to outfight the magnificent British Empire using guerrilla tactics. Lord Roberts was replaced by General Kitchener who when confronted by guerrillas used the scorched earth strategy. Houses were torched, livestock slaughtered, crops destroyed, and the earth salted. Harsh and cruel to some; a traditional military tactic dating back to antiquity to others. A turning point in history had been arrived at. In all previous wars the majority of combatants had been illiterate. The BOER war was the first war in which the majority of the British combatants were literate. The news of the creation of refugees and the setting up of concentration camps alarmed the civilian population in Britain putting pressure on the politicians, to no avail beyond losing some members their seats in Parliament. During World Wars One and Two public opinion was not an issue as the journalists wrote what the generals told them to. Viet man was the first war to bring public pressure regarding the conduct of war in to the realm of military strategy. It has been argued that the forbearance regarding scorched earth policies had a direct bearing upon the US defeat in Viet Nam. How long can the west continue to ignore the scorched earth strategy when confronted by guerrillas? Obviously there will come a breaking point where public opinion will be overcome by the damage inflicted upon them by guerrilla forces. When this point is arrived at the scorched earth policy will again become a viable option. Maybe not in our lifetime but as sure as day follows night the tactic will return as long as there is a will for survival within the hearts of the western populations. ------------ About the author: Read Mike Haran's essays on history at http://www.geocities.com/manzikertca/ Email: manzikertca@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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