Spring Break
Without national will, wars are doomed
Wes Heinkel
Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Opinion
Once again, elected officials, commanders and even the American people have forgotten what history taught us about the strategic value of the national will. Prussian general and renowned military theorist Carl Von Clausewitz called attention to these moral factors or factors of the national will more than 170 years ago in his magnum opus, "On War."
In Book III, Chapter 3 he distinctly says, "History provides the strongest proof of the importance of moral factors and their often incredible effect; this is the noblest and most solid nourishment that the mind of a general may draw from a study of the past … the moral elements are among the most important in war."
American prestige, military power, unmatched strength and overall war-fighting capabilities lead our elected officials and citizens to believe war is limited to only those things that can be measured, quantified and computerized by our military. Many things in war do come down to systems analysis and numbers; however, Clausewitz warns us about those who would exclude all moral factors from strategic theory and reduce everything to a few mathematical formulas.
In an open society like America, war requires agreement by the citizenry on the tactics and strategy used. Instead of building a moral consensus and taking action to smooth the divisive friction that exists between the American people and their Army, we can see from history American policy makers and citizens tend to consciously or subconsciously aggravate it. It appears we have not learned our lesson.
Just ask yourself what President George W. Bush's strategy is. If we were to ask the American people what Bush's strategic objective in Iraq is today, it would be likely we would get a myriad of answers. This is a failure of national strategic policy; one that should be, at all costs, constantly avoided. In fact, Clausewitz's first principle of war is the objective or a mission statement that creates solvency between military objectives and political aims.
In Book III, Chapter 3 he distinctly says, "History provides the strongest proof of the importance of moral factors and their often incredible effect; this is the noblest and most solid nourishment that the mind of a general may draw from a study of the past … the moral elements are among the most important in war."
American prestige, military power, unmatched strength and overall war-fighting capabilities lead our elected officials and citizens to believe war is limited to only those things that can be measured, quantified and computerized by our military. Many things in war do come down to systems analysis and numbers; however, Clausewitz warns us about those who would exclude all moral factors from strategic theory and reduce everything to a few mathematical formulas.
In an open society like America, war requires agreement by the citizenry on the tactics and strategy used. Instead of building a moral consensus and taking action to smooth the divisive friction that exists between the American people and their Army, we can see from history American policy makers and citizens tend to consciously or subconsciously aggravate it. It appears we have not learned our lesson.
Just ask yourself what President George W. Bush's strategy is. If we were to ask the American people what Bush's strategic objective in Iraq is today, it would be likely we would get a myriad of answers. This is a failure of national strategic policy; one that should be, at all costs, constantly avoided. In fact, Clausewitz's first principle of war is the objective or a mission statement that creates solvency between military objectives and political aims.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
J
posted 3/06/08 @ 3:22 PM CST
I think it would be better said that some Americans are too selfish, while others are too dimwitted to care. But then again, I also think that you are wrongly assuming that we still vote for leaders; it's quite apparent that leadership is lacking in our government institutions, from local municipalities all the way up to our federal government. (Continued…)
Post a Comment