Bulletin N°244
Subject : ON SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR
UNDERSTANDING THE WAR.
18 July 2006
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
We have received much information as the expansion of the U.S.
imperialist war in the Middle East continues. On the structure and
function of military strategy, Clarl Von Clauswitz wrote in his
classic treatise, On
War (1832) :
- We must not stop at the
testing of a means for the immediate goal,
- but test also this goal as a
means to a higher one, and thus ascend
- the series of facts in
succession, until we come to one so absolutely
- necessary as to require no
examination or proof.
What, we might ask, is the higher
goal of the Israeli-U.S. military alliance?
Examining the history of the Israeli war against the Palestinian
people, the documentary film, The Iron Wall,
should serve to help illustrate the use of tactics in
the service of a Grand Strategy.
The 6 items below offer further information on this
contemporary episode of U.S. military expansion into the Middle
East. When our readers look at the following items of information, as
material for further analysis, we encourage them to keep in mind the
wisdom of the 4th-century B.C. Chinese strategist Sun Tzu,
author of The
Art of War :
- Weapons are ominous tools to
be used only when there is no alternative. ...
- Know the enemy and know
yourself; in a hundred battles you will never
- be in peril. ...
- To win one hundred victories
in one hundred battles is not the acme of
- skill. To win over the enemy
without fighting is the acme of skill. ...
- Thus, what is of supreme
importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.
Such tactics, it would
seem, are of supreme importance
to the international peace movement, as well. . . .
Sincerely,
Francis McCollum Feeley
Professor of American Studies/
Director of Research
Université Stendhal - Grenoble 3
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/
______________
A.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
A Clean Break: A New Strategy for
Securing the Realm
Is an ambitious 1996 Middle East policy paper. A Clean Break
recommended toppling the government of Iraq, "rolling back" Syria and
Iran, and "electrifying" support for Israel in the US Congress in
exchange for new missile defense contract opportunities. Three of the
eight authors have since become prominent policymakers in the U.S.
government.
________________
B.
from Stratfor Intelligence Report :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Israeli is preparing the
battlefield
We are now in the period preceding major conventional operations.
Israel is in the process of sealing the Lebanese coast. They have
disrupted Lebanese telecommunications, although they have not
completely collapsed the structure. Israeli aircraft are attacking
Hezbollah's infrastructure and road system. In the meantime, Hezbollah,
aware it is going to be hit hard, is in a use-it or-lose-it scenario,
firing what projectiles it can into Israel.
__________________
C.
from Linda McQuaig :
Wildly disproportionate attack on
Lebanon seems like pretext to confront Iran
By Linda McQuaig
Is it really Iran that is pushing for war? Think about it. Why would
Iran want to provoke a war with Israel and the U.S. both heavily
armed nuclear powers when it has no nuclear weapons itself?
______________
D.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
U.S. grants Israelis a green light
The effective U.S. green light to Israel appeared to leave the United
States at odds with most of its allies
_______________
E.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
_______________
F.
from ICH :
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Israeli strikes are part of a
broader strategy
Israel, with U.S. support, intends to resist calls for a cease-fire and
continue a longer-term strategy of punishing Hezbollah, which is likely
to include several weeks of precision bombing in Lebanon, according to
senior Israeli and U.S. officials.