Sunday, July 01, 2007
Why Arabs Lose Wars
History
There’s an interesting article on The Middle East Forum titled “Why Arabs Lose Wars.” Although with such a title, it could easily slide into a jingoistic rant, the article is instead a thoughtful piece on how a culture has struggled to keep pace with the western way of war.
Author Norvell De Atkine, a U.S. Army retired colonel with eight years residence in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, and a graduate degree in Arab studies from the American University of Beirut, examines several key components of modern warfare, including information, officers v soldiers, decision making, combined arms operations and security. It is also very interesting in light of the United States efforts to build a new Iraqi security force.
The conclusion is pretty sobering:
It would be difficult to exaggerate the cultural gulf separating American and Arab military cultures. In every significant area, American military advisors find students who enthusiastically take in their lessons and then resolutely fail to apply them. The culture they return to—the culture of their own armies in their own countries—defeats the intentions with which they took leave of their American instructors.
When they had an influence on certain Arab military establishments, the Soviets reinforced their clients’ cultural traits far more than, in more recent years, Americans were able to. Like the Arabs’, the Soviets’ military culture was driven by political fears bordering on paranoia. The steps taken to control the sources (real or imagined) of these fears, such as a rigidly centralized command structure, were readily understood by Arab political and military elites. The Arabs, too, felt an affinity for the Soviet officer class’s contempt for ordinary soldiers and the Soviet military hierarchy’s distrust of a well-developed, well-appreciated, well-rewarded NCO corps.
Entry Permalink and Comments | Email this entry | List All Posts By Category
Didn't find what you wanted? Try our exclusive Miniature Wargaming Search Engine.
Comments:
No comments yet.