Out of curiosity I went looking for the article John mentioned. Google found
not less than 5 different copies of it. I found it rather enlightening.
Bill
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09/11/2002 01:00 AM
Please respond to gzg-l
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:24:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Test
> - --- Laserlight <laserlight@quixnet.net> wrote:
If you want to liven things up, I can post a link someone sent me to an
article entitled "Why Arabs Loose Wars." Some really thoughtful stuff about
Arab information management strategies and leadership styles written by a
retired ossifer who spent umpteen years trying to get friendly Arab armies to
pull their collective heads out of their asses long enough to learn something.
Then we can debate how this would affect IFed performance in future conflicts.
John
Phil said:
> It's rather ironic: the article begins with a description of why the
Both. Just keep in mind that it's *a* factor, but not *the* factor.
> On Wed, 11 Sep 2002 09:29:31 -0500 bbrush@unlnotes.unl.edu wrote:
> Out of curiosity I went looking for the article John mentioned.
Google found not less than 5 different copies of it. I found it rather
enlightening. <
Interesting, but potentially dangerous. I noted the comment about the American
perception of Japan before WW2, and the other examples given. With them in
mind, I'd be wary of basing any practical strategies on that article, lest the
same thing happen again.
It's rather ironic: the article begins with a description of why the article
ought not to be relied on... and it's difficult to know if either or both
should be believed.
Phil
----
"If you let a smile be your umbrella... you'll get wet teeth!"
> At 4:15 PM +0100 9/11/02, Phillip Atcliffe wrote:
Well, I take it that he's essentially warning not to take this as faith that
you'll walk over an Arab army. The preconceived notions
can lead you to under-estimate a foe. By the same toke, you can
overestimate a nation's military power (Gulf War) and benefit by it.
> It's rather ironic: the article begins with a description of why the
He's really just explaining why people training Arab Military forces find the
whole process so frustrating. He extrapolates that since armies fight as they
train, that they'll likely have a harder time of fighting against a better
trained opponent.
Low level officer initiative is worth its weight in gold. Students of WWII
know that the biggest problem we had with the Germans was the amazing ability
for junior officers to organize local counter attacks with what ever men were
at hand and really FUBAR an Allied thrust down a given axis.