Thomas Wictor

Posts Tagged ‘Sun Tzu’

Purpose of American troops in the Middle East

US troops in the Middle East are part of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. Their purpose is to defeat the Islamic State. Nothing else. The reason I’m saying this is because of a tweet I saw. Azaz is where Syrian Kurds, Islamist rebels, the Islamic State, and Bashar al-Assad’s allies are all fighting…

 

Read More

OPSEC is what keeps soldiers alive on the battlefield

On May 3, 2016, US Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Keating IV was fatally wounded in Tal Askuf, Iraq, during a firefight with the Islamic State. Keating was a SEAL assigned to a quick-reaction force (QRF) sent in to rescue eleven Americans who were advising the Kurdish Peshmerga. It appears that the OPSEC or…

 

Read More

Heterodox thinking made victory possible

I never fit in. It didn’t bother me very much, but my heterodox way of looking at things made life more difficult than it should’ve been. There were times when I wished I could be a magnificent blockhead, marching in lockstep with my peers. Well, I’ve been purged forever of even the slightest wistfulness over…

 

Read More

Feign disorder, and then crush your enemy and his supporters

“Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.” Those of the words of Sun Tzu, author of the The Art of War. There’s no doubt in my mind that Israel and the Arab League have created strategic special forces, dubbed “C6ISR forces” by IDF Brigadier General Gal Hirsch (retired). The term…

 

Read More

Deception: the smart kind and the really stupid kind

If the Arab League were enemies of the United States, we’d be sunk. There’s no question. I’m in the process of reverse engineering the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, and I’m amazed at the brilliance of the military deception. It continues to this day. Fierce fighting and airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition pounded northern Yemen on…

 

Read More

The Saudis have studied the master

Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC) was a Chinese general and author of The Art of War. It’s absolutely clear that the Saudis have studied him. All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are…

 

Read More