Strategic Illiteracy
There's been a lot of talk, in circles of people who care about such things, about why it is that the world community has painted Israel as the bad guy in the latest fighting, and Hezbollah as... well, not the 'good guy', but as having lesser culpability for what we see on our TV screens. There have been many good points made about moral equivalence, and the increasing inability of many comfortable westerners to recognise that some ideologies in the world are simply impossible for liberal democracies to live with, let alone alongside, as Israel does. But I think I've thought of another dimension to the problem -- strategic illiteracy.
I've never served in the military (unless you count a year in air cadets as a kid (I might have stayed in longer if there'd been more aeroplanes, and less marching)) but I've always been interested in military affairs. When I was younger, this was because like many stupid kids, I thought war was cool -- then when I grew older, it was because I realised how important military issues are, and will likely remain, in today's world. Put another way, you can't understand anything that goes on in the world today, if you've no idea how wars are fought. Pick any flashpoint in the world, and underpinning every political initiative, every resolution, every summit and debate, is the issue of military strategy -- what is militarily possible, what it will likely cost, and what the respective potential combatants are prepared to pay. Every policy on North Korea is predicated on the knowledge of what any future war on the peninsula will look like. Ditto the mid-east, Iran, Cuba, Columbia, etc.
It's pretty clear to me, from reading or hearing the opinions of Israel's western critics in the current conflict, that most of them don't have much knowledge or interest in military strategy. Indeed, many regard a knowledge or interest of such things as morally suspicious. When you've no idea what the IDF is trying to do in Lebanon, it's easy to write it all off as barbarian-minded 'eye for an eye' stuff, and no better than what Hezbollah does. But if you take the time to read or listen to people who know, about what Israel is trying, and what Hezbollah is intending, then a picture begins to emerge. It's unpleasant, but it starts to make some sense.
How surprising, then, that most Israelis support the IDF's actions? Not merely are they the ones being attacked, Israel also has conscription, so most people have served, and they can see the strategic picture without needing to be convinced. And how surprising that the other nation to support Israel most strongly is the USA, where amongst half the population at least, military service remains an honorable concept? And how surprising that it's the Europeans, where military service has come to be regarded as something vaguely vulgar, who are most opposed to Israel's actions? It's not just that the Europeans aren't big fans of Israel, it's also that they simply don't understand WHY Israel's military must do the things it does. And the only people telling them what's going on are the media, who are of course the greatest strategic illiterates around.
This is why pacifists will never achieve peace -- their approach to war is like the Catholic Church's approach to the AIDS virus, they ignore the factual research, and preach matters of ideological principle at the expense of practical solutions, because those practial solutions offend their moral sensibilities. To cure the disease, you first must take an interest in understanding it. Once you study it enough, you might have a chance at, if not a vaccine, then at least a treatment of some sort. Disdain for the methods of warfare, like disdain for the workings of viruses, will only kill more people in the long run. Ignorance doesn't save lives, and never will.
I've never served in the military (unless you count a year in air cadets as a kid (I might have stayed in longer if there'd been more aeroplanes, and less marching)) but I've always been interested in military affairs. When I was younger, this was because like many stupid kids, I thought war was cool -- then when I grew older, it was because I realised how important military issues are, and will likely remain, in today's world. Put another way, you can't understand anything that goes on in the world today, if you've no idea how wars are fought. Pick any flashpoint in the world, and underpinning every political initiative, every resolution, every summit and debate, is the issue of military strategy -- what is militarily possible, what it will likely cost, and what the respective potential combatants are prepared to pay. Every policy on North Korea is predicated on the knowledge of what any future war on the peninsula will look like. Ditto the mid-east, Iran, Cuba, Columbia, etc.
It's pretty clear to me, from reading or hearing the opinions of Israel's western critics in the current conflict, that most of them don't have much knowledge or interest in military strategy. Indeed, many regard a knowledge or interest of such things as morally suspicious. When you've no idea what the IDF is trying to do in Lebanon, it's easy to write it all off as barbarian-minded 'eye for an eye' stuff, and no better than what Hezbollah does. But if you take the time to read or listen to people who know, about what Israel is trying, and what Hezbollah is intending, then a picture begins to emerge. It's unpleasant, but it starts to make some sense.
How surprising, then, that most Israelis support the IDF's actions? Not merely are they the ones being attacked, Israel also has conscription, so most people have served, and they can see the strategic picture without needing to be convinced. And how surprising that the other nation to support Israel most strongly is the USA, where amongst half the population at least, military service remains an honorable concept? And how surprising that it's the Europeans, where military service has come to be regarded as something vaguely vulgar, who are most opposed to Israel's actions? It's not just that the Europeans aren't big fans of Israel, it's also that they simply don't understand WHY Israel's military must do the things it does. And the only people telling them what's going on are the media, who are of course the greatest strategic illiterates around.
This is why pacifists will never achieve peace -- their approach to war is like the Catholic Church's approach to the AIDS virus, they ignore the factual research, and preach matters of ideological principle at the expense of practical solutions, because those practial solutions offend their moral sensibilities. To cure the disease, you first must take an interest in understanding it. Once you study it enough, you might have a chance at, if not a vaccine, then at least a treatment of some sort. Disdain for the methods of warfare, like disdain for the workings of viruses, will only kill more people in the long run. Ignorance doesn't save lives, and never will.
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