On Wednesday, July 10, 2002, at 06:44 , Maggie Jaffe wrote:
[..]
> It occurred to me that our surplus supply of prisoners might be the
> latest method to flesh out the military.
Actually 'the punishment battalion' is more of a soviet tactic
from 'the great patriotic war' - you may want to catch 'Enemy
at the Gate' - the "jude law" vehicle about the great sniper
duel in Stalingrad - the opening sequences has our 'valiant hero'
arriving by cattle car, being dragged across the volga, handed
a clip of ammunition, told to use the rifle of those who fall
and sent forward. Retreat is dealt with by russian machinegun fire.
As a tactic - it is a 'last ditch' solution - and as even the
film points out, the better course is to give the troops a
reason to have hope.
The early soviet campaign to 'liberate' Afghanistan fell victim
to the 'euro-centric' tactics of the Red Army - which were designed
and developed to take on NATO, not deal with Mujahidin in the
moutains.... They would finally shift to the 'spetnaz' solution
in the last few years of their time in Afghanistan - to take
back the 'strategic momentum'. But that process rests upon
'special operations personnel' willing to run very small
unit tactics where the recon was more important than the
massed battle, since the mission is to find the small band of
troops moving in the hill, so that they can be targeted by
air mobile assets.
{ for those of us engaged in monitoring soviet activities, this
type of military operation, like the adoption of 'mobile artillery'
and the efforts to decentralize the Command and Control, were telling
signs that the rigid models of 'collectiviztion' were failing. }
The problem there, as with the american position in vietnam,
and potentially the american position in afghanistan,
is the issue of 'staying power'. Which is a political issue, and
the military will always be subordinant to the political agenda
of the political leadership. This is as true of the Red Army as
the american - Since it was President Bush's call to accept a
'cease fire' and the eleven years of 'stumbling towards peace'
as we have watched it with regards to Iraq.
Where your speculation has merit of course, is the marriage of
the PATRIOT act, and the growing dissident movement in the USA
as the likes of Gnewt "I was a draft dodger too" Gingrich, oppose
the Great Leader, calling him 'as muddled as he was before 9/11' and
the continuing confusion of Bill "Hiding in College Helped Me Avoid
Vietnam" O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone" as he forgets how to implement any
of his patriotic rhetoric - as the technical bits confuse him.
Who knows, if the 'pundits' were to 'question' their 'patriotism'
as is the current rage over Martina Navratilova's comments, also
casting doubt on the great leader, it would be interesting to watch
them standing before a Judge, as was so chic during vietnam, and
given the same option:
do time in jail,
join our valiant fighting forces
ciao
drieux
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