[Marxism] The Algebra of Occupation

[Dbachmozart at aol.com]

In 1805, the French army out maneuvered, outsmarted,
and outfought the  combined armies of Russia and Austria
at Austerlitz. Three years later it  would flounder
against a rag-tag collection of Spanish guerrillas.

In  1967, it took six days for the Israeli army to smash
Egypt, Jordan, and Syria  and seize the West Bank, the
Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. In 2006,  a
Shiite militia fought the mightiest army in the Middle
East to a bloody  standstill in Lebanon.

In 1991, it took four days of ground combat for  the
United States to crush Saddam Hussein's army in the
Gulf War. U.S.  losses were 148 dead and 647 wounded.
After more than five years of war in  Iraq, U.S. losses
are approaching 4,000, with over 50,000 wounded; 2007
is  already the deadliest year of the war for the United
States.

In each  case, a great army won a decisive victory only
to see that victory canceled  out by what T.E. Lawrence
once called the 'algebra of occupation.' Writing  about
the British occupation of Iraq following the Ottoman
Empire's  collapse in World War I, Lawrence put his
finger on the formula that has  doomed virtually every
military force that has tried to quell a  restive
population.

Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk has  cited
Lawrence to this effect: 'Rebellion must have an
unassailable  base…it must have a sophisticated alien
enemy, in the form a disciplined army  of occupation too
small to dominate the whole area effectively  from
fortified posts. It must have a friendly population,
not actively  friendly, but sympathetic to the point of
not betraying rebel movements to  the enemy. Rebellions
can be made by 2 percent active in a striking  force,
and 98 percent passive sympathy. Granted mobility,
security…time  and doctrine…victory will rest with the
insurgents, for the algebraical  factors are in the end
decisive.'
 
full article -
 
<http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4766>  






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