Sun Tzu style
Sun Tzu said:
"Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him."
(Some anti-war people may want to read that passage again!)
A while back, in a comment, someone suggested that Bush and his administration probably hadn’t read "The art of war" by Sun Tzu. This person claimed that things are being handled badly in Iraq, so the folks planning the war couldn’t have studied war.
Well, at the time of the comment, I didn’t know if those people planing the war had read Sun Tzu. I have the answer now. "Yes, many planning this war have read "The art of War."
If you get a newer copy (Printing) of Sun Tzu strategies it will tell you in the foreword many of those who have studied The art of War.
It is amazing how much we have in common with SunTzu strategies. We hold the assessable terrain. Our military can go whereever they want to, whenever they want. The enemy leader is sitting in our prison. (Saddam) The other enemy leader is in a cave somewhere, hiding in fear. (Osama) The enemy defenses have been defeated. (Tanks, planes, etc)
If our military wanted to build a Six Flags amusement park in downtown Baghdad, there is nothing the enemy could do to stop it. The enemy could launch a car bomb at the Baghdad Six Flags, but they could not stop the project.
There are some things we are not doing that Sun Tzu suggests you should do if you are to be victorious. (Liberals are not going to like this.) First, we are not banging a Gong at nighttime. Sun Tzu lived 2,400 years ago and banging a gong was important then. It forces your enemy, even in down time, to remember that you are there. We play loud rock music.. Does that count?
Second, we must make the enemy fear us. The enemy must feel it would be better to die then to be captured by Americans. The enemy must know they will die if they attack us. But.. We do not torture prisoners. Actually we are very kind to the enemy. (Compared to other wars of the past.) This is why many of Saddam’s soldiers surrendered to our military in the early days of the war. They knew they would get hot food and a safe place to sleep.
Third, if we followed Sun Tzu's - The art of war, we would take the enemies supplies. (Oil) We would have taken the billions of dollars Saddam had stashed away. We are not doing that.
Forth: We would never retreat when we hold the main terrain. This would be seen as a sign of weakness. As said by Sun Tzu. The only time you would retreat is if the enemy forces are greater then yours. No one can say that the terrorists have a greater force then our military. Even the most misguided liberal.
I am not suggesting that America start doing these things. We are winning wars without torture and stealing land. I just think it is ironic that someone suggested that Bush and his administration hadn’t studied "The art of war," and if we did follow Sun Tzu strategies we would have to strike fear into the enemy. We would take Saddam’s resources and basically make Iraq the 51 state of America.
Sun Tzu Said:
"Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength. The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven. Thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves; on the other, a victory that is complete."
