"John Ringo - Council War 3 - Against the Tide" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ringo John)

me of a strategic use of the indirect approach?"
"The latter United States battles against the Soviet Union?" one of the women at the back of the
room said, not looking up from her sketch.
"Very good, Ensign," the young man said. "And can you give me another example from the same
time period?"
The young woman looked up in startlement at that and shook her head.
"The War on Terrorism?" one of the males asked.
"Yes," the instructor replied. "At no point in either war did the U.S. directly attack those countries
which were the most dangerous to them, politically and strategically, through the use of terrorism.
Instead, it attacked the countries that aided and supported them in their cultural memes or directly
assaulted those memes. By destroying the economy of the Soviet Union in the first case, and by
destroying the cultural, not to mention financial, support of terrorism in the second, the U.S. in both
cases destroyed an enemy that, arguably, was capable of winning the war. The Soviet Union by a direct
nuclear strike, or a ground assault upon America's allies, and the terrorist-sponsoring states through
economic embargo or direct sponsorship of weapons of mass destruction terrorism. But in each case, by
strategic ju-jitsu, the American nation attacked at the weakest point, winning vast wars with very small
engagements."
"Iraq was not the weakest state in the region," the female ensign said. "They had more forces than
the expeditionary force could field against them for logistic reasons."
"Which EF used the indirect approach again," the instructor pointed out. He wiped the preceding
sketch from the board and started to draw another. "The enemy was in fixed, and very strong, positions,
along the probable avenues of approach. Approaches that had been used, notably by the Briton allies of
the Americans, in previous wars. By using movement through what the enemy thought was impassable
ground, logistically, the Americans and their Briton allies forced the enemy into a battle of maneuver that
it could not win against their air superiority. And then by placing forces in the region they drew off the
majority of attacks against the civilians in the allied state of Israel as well as their home countries.
"Again, Subedei and Genghis, by destroying the fields before their enemy's gates, created an
environment the enemy believed could not be crossed, and then crossed it, crushing the superior Persian
force in detail. They then put the entire region to the sword, which tended to prevent the sort of
problems the Americans saw, but that was a different time. Slim used much the same approach in his
battles along the Irriwady shore where he was facing a highly capable, proven dangerous enemy. One
that had previously beaten him, badly, on the same terrain, I might add." The young man laid down the
chalk and wiped his hand on a rag held by the prosthetic. "One wonders if the generals of that time
studied Subedei as well," he added with a grin.
"But . . ." the female ensign said.
"Yes, Ensign Van Krief?" he said, mildly.
"What happens if the enemy is smart enough to overcome your indirect approach?" Amosis Van
Krief asked. The ensign was just below medium height with short blond hair, a hard, triangular face and
a broad, strongly muscled body. She also had bright blue eyes and very nice legs, which the instructor
was careful not to comment upon or even appear to notice.
"In that case," the young man smiled lopsidedly, "you'd better have one hell of a go-to-hell-plan.
Because you only use this approach when you don't have a choice; when your forces are inferior or of
parity. It's always better, if you have a steam hammer, to crack the walnut that way. The problem is, you
usually don't have a steam hammer. Cracking the nut when you don't appear to have the strength
requires subtlety."
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The door to the room opened softly and a young female private entered and popped to attention.
"Captain Herrick," she squeaked nervously, "the general wants to see you at . . . at your . . ."