The best way to win a war is to make sure not to start one
THE great Chinese strategist, Sun Tzu once said: “The best way to win a war is to never have started one in the first place.†That is a telling statement. It is an adage that has stood the test of time, and personally, I find no reason not to adhere to it. The Oxford English Dictionary describes
By Col. Pecos Kutesa
THE great Chinese strategist, Sun Tzu once said: “The best way to win a war is to never have started one in the first place.†That is a telling statement. It is an adage that has stood the test of time, and personally, I find no reason not to adhere to it. The Oxford English Dictionary describes violence as “action using physical force intending to hurt, damage or kill.â€
The same dictionary defines war to be “a state of armed conflict between nations or groupsâ€. In my view, violence and war are correlated, and being no expert at violence, yet having acceptable knowledge of and about war, I should know better. I have been both a conscious and unconscious participant in war for the greatest part of my adult life, joining the profession of arms in my early twenties, to the present (early fifties). I can therefore confidently contribute to the subject of what really constitutes war.
It takes two to tangle.
Any war, like any other campaign is designed to achieve certain aims or goals. In order to achieve them, the campaigner must identify the impediments to their realization and find ways of overcoming them. The first principle of war according to Sun Tzu is to identify and isolate the enemy. Simple logic, one might say, but like all common sense, logic is a rare commodity.
Of all armed skirmishes that I have been thrown into, or found myself (and they are not few by any standards), I have always been briefed by my superiors and accordingly explained to my charges as to how and why we were going into battle. The most pertinent information passed onto any combatant by the superior command is to know who the enemy is.
This brings me to a simple question, arising out of current media coverage of leading political activists who give the impression that Ugandans are getting into the gear for battle. The sense of uncertainty and apprehension has been best captured in one artist’s proclamation that we are in a state of unease – ‘tuli ku bunkenke’ – a statement now in common use by some sections of the public.
Who is the enemy?
War is an interesting phenomenon for those deranged enough to enjoy the gory images of war victims and casualties that technology brings to the living room of the millions that have TV and radio receivers.
Experience informs some of us in the know that war is a nasty business that we should never consciously allow to re-play itself out on this field called Uganda. For the people to prepare for this much-hyped ‘new game’ of war in our streets and homes, can the teams readying for it inform us who is going to fight who?
As a good soldier, I am just asking for guidance. Before I oil my now-almost-rusty AK47, put on my backpack, my combat and lace up my boots, and the boots of my parents and siblings; I implore whoever has the answer to tell me, exactly who the enemy is.
Have all the options been exhausted by the contending forces currently sounding war drums, so as to enter into the last and worst phase of politics a.k.a. war? Before Ugandans are hoodwinked into going off to yet another war, let someone tell us who the enemy is. I may be the naïve, insensitive heckler, even comparable to Marie Antoinette who unwittingly sparked off the French Revolution, but it is as much a right of mine as many ordinary Ugandans I have interacted with, to know at the end of the day, who will be fighting who.
I will not ask why, because causes are formed by opinions, and they are the most abundant free commodities doing the rounds. I accordingly excuse myself from the varied and diverse opinions of people on the why, and concentrate on establishing the practical path that the belligerents intend to take to identify the enemy from the rest of the Ugandan population.
In my naivety, I cannot help but see the Ugandan populace as the grass that will suffer at the expense of the elephantine egos of political actors sounding the war drums. I therefore humbly beg to be informed of who the enemy is and what Uganda will look like at the end of this Great War in the making.
I stand to be corrected, but the last Blues versus Reds wars were fought so far back, and only those behind the times and the news would find appeal in replaying them out on our own front lawns and streets.
Isn’t it amazing that rumours and diabolical political statements can cause us to careen towards a path of spilling blood? If this is the thinking, then God help us all! Let us for a moment ask, whose blood is it that will be so wantonly spilled?
I am just asking in all sincerity, like my significant others who constitute the rest of the Ugandan population, to be informed, so as to be better prepared for any eventuality.
For God and my Country.
The writer is a retired army officer
THE great Chinese strategist, Sun Tzu once said: “The best way to win a war is to never have started one in the first place.†That is a telling statement. It is an adage that has stood the test of time, and personally, I find no reason not to adhere to it. The Oxford English Dictionary describes violence as “action using physical force intending to hurt, damage or kill.â€
The same dictionary defines war to be “a state of armed conflict between nations or groupsâ€. In my view, violence and war are correlated, and being no expert at violence, yet having acceptable knowledge of and about war, I should know better. I have been both a conscious and unconscious participant in war for the greatest part of my adult life, joining the profession of arms in my early twenties, to the present (early fifties). I can therefore confidently contribute to the subject of what really constitutes war.
It takes two to tangle.
Any war, like any other campaign is designed to achieve certain aims or goals. In order to achieve them, the campaigner must identify the impediments to their realization and find ways of overcoming them. The first principle of war according to Sun Tzu is to identify and isolate the enemy. Simple logic, one might say, but like all common sense, logic is a rare commodity.
Of all armed skirmishes that I have been thrown into, or found myself (and they are not few by any standards), I have always been briefed by my superiors and accordingly explained to my charges as to how and why we were going into battle. The most pertinent information passed onto any combatant by the superior command is to know who the enemy is.
This brings me to a simple question, arising out of current media coverage of leading political activists who give the impression that Ugandans are getting into the gear for battle. The sense of uncertainty and apprehension has been best captured in one artist’s proclamation that we are in a state of unease – ‘tuli ku bunkenke’ – a statement now in common use by some sections of the public.
Who is the enemy?
War is an interesting phenomenon for those deranged enough to enjoy the gory images of war victims and casualties that technology brings to the living room of the millions that have TV and radio receivers.
Experience informs some of us in the know that war is a nasty business that we should never consciously allow to re-play itself out on this field called Uganda. For the people to prepare for this much-hyped ‘new game’ of war in our streets and homes, can the teams readying for it inform us who is going to fight who?
As a good soldier, I am just asking for guidance. Before I oil my now-almost-rusty AK47, put on my backpack, my combat and lace up my boots, and the boots of my parents and siblings; I implore whoever has the answer to tell me, exactly who the enemy is.
Have all the options been exhausted by the contending forces currently sounding war drums, so as to enter into the last and worst phase of politics a.k.a. war? Before Ugandans are hoodwinked into going off to yet another war, let someone tell us who the enemy is. I may be the naïve, insensitive heckler, even comparable to Marie Antoinette who unwittingly sparked off the French Revolution, but it is as much a right of mine as many ordinary Ugandans I have interacted with, to know at the end of the day, who will be fighting who.
I will not ask why, because causes are formed by opinions, and they are the most abundant free commodities doing the rounds. I accordingly excuse myself from the varied and diverse opinions of people on the why, and concentrate on establishing the practical path that the belligerents intend to take to identify the enemy from the rest of the Ugandan population.
In my naivety, I cannot help but see the Ugandan populace as the grass that will suffer at the expense of the elephantine egos of political actors sounding the war drums. I therefore humbly beg to be informed of who the enemy is and what Uganda will look like at the end of this Great War in the making.
I stand to be corrected, but the last Blues versus Reds wars were fought so far back, and only those behind the times and the news would find appeal in replaying them out on our own front lawns and streets.
Isn’t it amazing that rumours and diabolical political statements can cause us to careen towards a path of spilling blood? If this is the thinking, then God help us all! Let us for a moment ask, whose blood is it that will be so wantonly spilled?
I am just asking in all sincerity, like my significant others who constitute the rest of the Ugandan population, to be informed, so as to be better prepared for any eventuality.
For God and my Country.
The writer is a retired army officer