by Yudanashi

Created on: August 09, 2007   Last Updated: August 10, 2007

Sun Tzu was the author of "The Art of War", he was a Chinese general/philosopher that came up with the many witty lines that people always quote. "Strike where he is unprepared...." and other such wisdom and wit. However one of his quotes is of particular interest to me because it reflects the strategy that our current administration used, when going into Iraq, but ignored the most important message of Sun Tzu's quote.

"An able commander need not raise troops twice and does not harvest food three times" -Sun Tzu

The overall meaning of this quote is quite simple, a good commander wins quickly so he doesn't waste men and resources. However, there is a certain amount of depth to this that concerns two different theaters of war.

The first part, about raising troops twice, obviously addresses how a commander should field his army; the second part concerns resources in general, even though it refers to harvesting food. Back in Sun Tzu's day, an invading army would subjugate the people of the land that they had recently conquered and force them to pay taxes, build fortresses, and fight for their captors. In today's world, this would not bode well with the rest of the world and the U.N. So, taking the option of conscripting the people of a recently taken country, or bits of a country, it would appear that an invading country has no choice but to quickly win so as to avoid the necessity of having to "raise troops twice". This is one of the biggest problems facing the Bush administration with Iraq. They can't conscript the people to fight this long war against the insurgents, however they can train a native "security force" and deploy them into the field. The truth is that it is already too late, this volunteer force of brave Iraqi civilians is noble, there is no doubt about that, but they are too little too late. American troops have been raised two, three, four, as many as five times to return to Iraq. Another catch phrase from Sun Tzu is that a warrior should not remain in the field too long, lest he blunt his sword and dull his mind. Both the mental and physical effects that Sun Tzu described can be seen in Iraq. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental condition that unsettles troops after returning from war, Vietnam was the biggest awakening to the mental assault of war. Also, the numbers of volunteers are thinning and, as is well known, recruiters are trying harder and harder to offer lucrative deals to young would-be college students. The objective of avoiding

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