I would not really consider Sun Tzu a pacifist. He was however an ardent Taoist. The influence of Taoism is clear not just in the content of what he writes and the poetic licenses he takes, but also in the way the book itself is organized. It is this Taoist philosophy that guides Sun Tzu and at times makes him try to be as much of a pacifist as a military general can be.
To read The Art of War is not to immediately understand it (that's why I suggested the book that I did). Sun Tzu's principles apply to many disciplines, but as the saying goes, when the master points at the moon, the novice sees the finger pointing while the wise looks at the moon. Here are some of the principles of Sun Tzu, how many of them do you think W has fallowed:
1. Don't get in the war unless you absolutely have to. [certainly this was not the case with Iraq]
2. Attack a (very) weak force with a (very) strong force [sorry too few troops for the job]
3. Deprive your enemy from what he needs most, "if angry, annoy him; if tired do not let him sleep". [Let's see who has been doing this. What US needs most are "hearts and minds" of the Iraqis fallowed by a secure infrastructure conducive to business. What they need most is an angry, idle public fallowed by fearful foreign contractors. You tell me, who is ahead?]
4. Waste nothing! "Supreme mastery is in conquering your enemy without destroying his land or killing the people" [How are we doing on that front? In fact, Sun Tzu managed on many occasions to convince large number of elements within the enemy to join forces with him. Did we make use of the Iraqi army, police, factories, farms, etc?]
5. Make extensive use of spies [I can't know the number of agents we have within the Jihadists, but I doubt we have many. The evidence certainly suggests that Osama and Zarqawi are quite well].
6. Cut your losses fast [Sun Tzu strongly emphasizes that it is more important not to engage in losing battles than to win battles. So far I have not seen much change in policy or tactics.]
7. Know yourself, know your enemy, then use guile. [They seem to know us pretty well. I don't see much evidence that we know much about them. We are shooting in the dark both on the policy side and the tactical front].
8. Planning, planning, planning, then swift decisive strikes. [Sun Tzu explicitly emphasizes that there has NEVER been a case of a country benefiting from a prolonged war. He also says that you should have so much planning that without even a single shot being fired, it should be obvious how the battle will go. So I have to give terrible marks to Bush on this too. There was no detailed planning and no contingencies and there is no exit plan].
Now you tell me, what similarities to Sun Tzu is there in Bush?
Sun Tzu |
