Framing the Dialogue

Posts Tagged ‘war’

Update – Rules of Engagement

Update – many on the conservative side breathed a cautious sigh of relief when General David Petraeus was placed in charge of the NATO war effort in Afghanistan.  Not many criticized his predecessor, General Stanley McChrystal, but there were grumbles about how he handcuffed his troops through tight rules of engagement as discussed in the original post.

Patraeus was seen as perhaps more of a warrior who would take the gloves off and permit our soldiers to do what soldiers do in war…kill the enemy and break things.  To many Patraeus was Patton.  As expected General Patraeus did modify the complex rules of engagement in Afghanistan.  He actually made them even more stringent in an attempt to win the support of the Afghan people. 

The Art Of War

Perhaps one of the most famous ancient books on warfare, Sun-tzu’s The Art of War has been translated many times.  This translation by Ralph D. Sawyer caught my eye in a book store and I had been wanting to read it for some time.

As I began reading I expected some introductions, explanations, etc., but what I did not expect or want was 162 pages of history before even getting to Sun-tzu.  I could only read sixty pages before I found myself flipping ahead to the thirteen sections of The Art Of War.  My impatience got the best of me, but I really wanted to read only Sun-tzu’s work and I found it very interesting and perhaps would be useful reading by some of our political leaders.

A P.C. War

Whether you want to call it a “war on terror” as George W. Bush would or an “overseas contingency operation” as our current president prefers, we are at war.  At least those who are waging battle against us are at war.  I am not sure that politicians in Washington are at war or that the general public quite feels the war.  This war almost came home to us again on Christmas Day with a Nigerian terrorist.

Executive Power

Executive PowerMitch is back and that means another great book for me to read.  Author Vince Flynndoes it again with CIA operative Mitch Rapp.  I am going to be very disappointed when I finish reading these books.  In the fourth novel, Executive Power, Rapp continues to battle global terrorism.  Though supposedly “retired” from the field he keeps his hand in the battles to protect our country. 

In this novel, America is not directly threatened, but Rapp and the CIA travel the world to combat extremists.  I am obviously reading the Rapp novels years after they were first published (Executive Power was published in 2003) and it is interesting to think about what was happening in American back then.  I found these two excerpts particularly interesting:

We Are Not At War With Islam

Lest You Forget!

Lest You Forget!

The title of this piece is sort of a quote from a speech that President Obama gave to the Turkish legislature in April 2009.  His actual words were; “The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam.”  Many of his and his administrations actions certainly bear out his words.  In light of the recent events at Fort Hood and his response to that tragedy, I started to look back at his words and more importantly his actions.  I should let you know that by “his actions” I do mean things that he has done and that members of his administration have done.