The Artlessness of War

Twenty-five hundred years ago, a book was written by Sun Tzu, a Chinese man—The Art of War. In his book, the author stressed that in order to win a war or a battle, it is absolutely necessary to attack with direction and surprise. Without that, victory is very likely elusive.

Now, American armed forces are being directed by a president who has absolutely disavowed that basic principle of warfare. He has clearly notified our Syrian enemy of his strategy and his tactics, including targets he plans to hit and targets he intends to avoid. He has stated that he is not trying to unseat the government of Syria. And…he has said that he may attack tomorrow, next week, or next month! Apparently, there is plenty of time for an attack; and for the first time in wartime history, there is no urgency in making a military move. All this delay is only giving the enemy plenty of time to move all military targets out of harm’s way, so it can be employed later to kill more civilians and children.

 
This attitude is absolutely unbelievable for a military commander. These stupid moves are being backed up, apparently, by our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey. General Dempsey seems to me just a mouthpiece for a president committed to a pointless and undirected symbolic move which is probably only going to be effective in promoting the president as one who decisively moves at a point of emergency—at least, that’s the way the president wants the whole situation to appear to the uninformed voter.