Linear Tactics in a Chaotic War !!!!

[Daanyeer]

Source: Antiwar
March 5, 2008 Author: William S. Lind

One of several dead hands the First Generation of Modern War lays on contemporary state militaries' throats is linearity. Most state militaries both seek and expect linearity on and off the battlefield. Sometimes, this manifests itself in tactics that offer magnificent if unintentional tableaux vivants. I recall a field exercise years ago with the Second Marine Division at Camp Lejeune where, rounding a bend, we found a lieutenant had built a perfect 19th-century fortress wall across the road, complete with firing step. The division sergeant major, in whose jeep I was riding, said, "My God, it's the siege of Vicksburg!"

More often, linearity manifests itself in a military service's culture, as a subtle but omnipresent mindset. It is easy to understand why this is so. Both on land and at sea, tactics became linear right at the beginning of the First Generation in the mid-17th century. In armies, that was when lines of infantrymen two or three deep replaced the square formations of the tercios. In navies, beginning with the British Navy in the Dutch Wars, the line ahead replaced the general melee. The two developments were causally related: the line ahead was adopted when generals took command of the British fleet under the Commonwealth.

The First Generation lasted about two centuries, centuries in which the culture of state militaries was formed. Linearity on the battlefield carried over directly into that culture, where it remains today. In Second Generation militaries, such as the American, the tactics too remained largely linear. As late as the First Gulf War a battalion commander in the Second Marine Division was nearly relieved for "breaking the line" when he pulled his unit back to avoid an Iraqi fire sack.

The expectation of linearity lies behind much of the U.S. military's misreading of the current situation in Iraq. If you look at its projections of success, they follow a line. It foresees a linear "building process" where its alliance with some Sunni militias in Anbar province and parts of Baghdad leads to similar alliances elsewhere, with no regression in "pacified" areas. Similarly, it expects the Sunnis to follow their acceptance of U.S. forces with acceptance of the Shi'ite-dominated government in Baghdad and its army and police. These lines, which lead to improved security, then mesh with other lines such as economic and political developments that represent the reemergence of a state in Iraq. It graphs nicely as a series of vectors on a chart, all pointing up. Linearity has marched from Waterloo to PowerPoint.

Unfortunately, Fourth Generation wars (and many other types of war as well) are not linear. Rather, they are chaotic, an unending melee of coming together and splitting apart that leaves an occupier running in place. Seemingly linear progress is matched or exceeded by non-linear regression. The state military perceives the former much more readily than the latter because linearity is what it expects. You find what you seek, whether or not it is there.

The reality in Iraq is that both Sunnis and Shi'ites are split along many different axes. Factions come together in temporary alliances of convenience, including with the foreign occupiers, only to split apart again and fight former allies. Reality for all parties is local and short-term. To the Iraqis, one alliance, such as with the Americans, does not imply any other alliance, such as with the central government. Arrangements that appear contradictory to us are natural to them. Linear progress toward a set of goals that represent a state is not what they expect. Our linearity and their non-linearity are ships passing in the night.

It will happen from time to time that the chaos shakes out into patterns in which we can see linear progress. But the reality remains chaos, which means the patterns will soon reform into other, quite different shapes. We cannot anticipate what those shapes might be. If we can be quick enough, we may be able to use some of those new shapes, as we have used the unexpected outbreak of fighting between local Sunni militias and al-Qaeda. What we must not do, if our orientation is to be accurate, is project these kaleidoscopic pattern shifts in linear terms.

Regrettably, that is what the U.S. military in Iraq is doing now. Given its First Generation heritage, it may not be able to do anything else.

[SahanGalbeed]

Seemingly linear progress is matched or exceeded by non-linear regression.


Happens here everyday!! LOL

[gurey25]

[quote="SahanGalbeed"]Seemingly linear progress is matched or exceeded by non-linear regression.


Happens here everyday!! LOL[/quote]


lol brilliant!!!

[SahanGalbeed]

Innit, like they say in the UK , gurey, welcome to OUR world America !! LOL.

[gurey25]

I think a few more years in Iraq will completly change the mentality of the US armed forces.
charging straight in cowboy style..

the world is not black or white, its full of shades of grey, and so many angles to give you a headache. The Iraqis have adapted and it is normal to them now..
they can continue in thier current state indefinatley for the next 100 years, but the US cannot
sustain its Iraq involvment for no more than a year or 2..

the funny thing is if the management of the war were given over to the British or French
or even Russians early in the war, it wouldbe over by now at a fraction of the cost and in dead.

[Leila2007]

"the funny thing is if the management of the war were given over to the British or French
or even Russians early in the war, it wouldbe over by now at a fraction of the cost and in dead"


What makes them better than the Americans?

[gurey25]

centurys of experience in occupation.

[Leila2007]

I tried to say the same thing the other and so many disagreed .

Do you agree the British are the best trained?

[gurey25]

The british are the greatest. colonizers in history..

they inflicted genocide greater than the nazis, caused more havoc on the worlds different cultures..

but what makes them the greatest is becuase they got away with it scot free.
and even convinced most of the world to forget thier crimes and even like them.


looooool

the US are simply wannabe kids playing empire, compared to the British.

[SahanGalbeed]

Well , one thing America is really good at is REACTING .They will adapt I am pretty confident and sure about that.
This again may sound cliche , but what makes the American military {of course a part from $} different from the Russian or French is their "idealism"or this tendency of seing everything in black &white .Now if you're convinced and been taught since childhood that you're "the good guys" you wanna stay that way.
The French , {et je m'en excuse mais ce n'est qu'une opinion } are a little more prone to leave a corrupted place behind them.

[gurey25]

one example.

chemical weapons...

Saddam is infamous for gassing the poor kurds,
while in 1920 when the Iraqis rebbeled against britian, they didnt send that many troops,
they simply bombed civilians with mustard gas, gassed the unrully wogs like piff paff on flys.

they killed far more Iraqis , even Kurds than saddam ever did.......


yet most Iraqis do not remember it,
and you will find allot of iraqis that even Like the UK..


lol

[gurey25]

[quote="SahanGalbeed"]Well , one thing America is really good at is REACTING .They will adapt I am pretty confident and sure about that.
This again may sound cliche , but what makes the American military {of course a part from $} different from the Russian or French is their "idealism"or this tendency of seing everything in black &white .Now if you're convinced and been taught since childhood that you're "the good guys" you wanna stay that way.
The French , {et je m'en excuse mais ce n'est qu'une opinion }never left a place better than they've found it .[/quote]

sadly the america that was loved and admired around the world is no more.
thanks to the neo-cons... America has left everyplace it has entered these days allot worse than they found it...

Afghanistan today, Iraq, somalia,

only positive thing to come out of its foriegn policy was Bosnia and Kosovo.

[Leila2007]

"never left a place better than they've found it"

And you think Americans have done this? I doubt that statement.I think with Americans they make too much noise and instill confidence and just think they are the greatest! I am sure they have both money and technology but they do this with everything. From war, to fashion to dieting. Everything is extreme.

The British are the most evil and I am sure they are doing alot of evil things today but they keep their mouths shut.

[SahanGalbeed]

No gurey , you cannot say Afghanistan is worse off today than before it was invaded . That's just not true , c'mon !
As far as what America's really about { and again I can only speak for myself} I think I am a little better positioned than the 2 of you , :) , to be witnessing the kind of debate that is going on in this country.
No doubt , the Iraqi invasion is one of the biggest blunders of America's foreign policy , but ...uuuh..to tell you the truth...I mean ..nothing but the truth .... though Iam an Obama fervent supporter ....uhh... I am more aligned with Mac Cain's position when it comes to Iraq.LOL.
Like Powell said it before :" you break it , you own it ".
America is NOT evil , they 're sometimes a lil nosy , but not evil.

[gurey25]

Sahan yes definatley america is not evil.
things are not black or white....

coincidently i also agree... they broke it, they have to fix it..
leaving Iraq in its current state is a bigger crime than invading it.