Description of Arab way of war

1. THE ARAB WAY OF WAR
Norvell B DeAtkine
Youstahz@aol.com
June 2009

2. Application of Culture to Warfare
Generally not
done or if done
stereotypically
applied

3. What is Stereotyping?
• Taking a kernel of truth and creating a
broad all-inclusive generalization
• It can lead to disaster in threat assessment

4. Pakistan outgunned and outnumbered by India launches an
attack on India…….WHY?
“One Pakistani soldier equals 20 Indians”
Example
The Indo-Pakistan War, 1971

5. Culture and Stereotyping
Disasters in History
• Hitler’s assessment of U.S.
• war making capability
• Our assessment of the
Japanese in 1940
• German assessment of the
• Eastern Europeans prior to
• Operation Barbarossa

6. Culture and Stereotyping
• Arab view of the Jews prior to 1948
• Our assessment of the North Vietnamese in 1966
• Israeli view of the
Egyptian military
in 1973

7. Culture and Stereotyping
• Iraqi assessment of the
U.S. in 1990….and
perhaps again in 2003?
• Ben Laden’s view of
the U.S.?

8. Culture is a prime determinant of the
nature of warfare as the history of its
development in Asia clearly
demonstrates.
John Keegan The History of Warfare
The beginning and the ending of handling
Arabs is the unremitting study of them
TE Lawrence The Arab Bulletin Aug 1920

9. Attributes Not Applicable to
Cultural Studies in Warfare
• Courage
• Human Intelligence
• Genetics
• Example:
Roman Imperial Army
ACCULTURATION NOT GENES

10. Arab Warfare in History
• Amazing Arab/Islamic expansion in 7th
Century due to number of historical and
social factors, but also because of………
– Extensive battle experience
– Excellent leadership
– Adaptability
– Excellent mobilization

11. ARAB WAY OF WAR
All peoples have a distinct cultural approach
to warfare. As Americans we have our own
strengths and weaknesses. The trick is to
minimize the weaknesses and use the
strengths. EXAMPLE;
Kasserine Pass in WWII demonstrated our weaknesses.

12. General Observations on Styles of War
American
• Vaunted position of
“smart weapons” and
technology
• Quick resolution demanded
• Decisive victory expected
• Firepower decisive
• War must be socially beneficial
• Requires clear demarcation between peace and
war
• Ambiguity avoided and/or the complex
oversimplified

13. Arab Style of War
• Political context
• Evasive/Indirection
• Delay/attrite
• Standoff
• Deception
• Defense over offense
• Psychological warfare
“Victories without battles”
- T.E. Lawrence 1921

14. STRENGHTS OF ARAB MILITARY
• * low soldier maintenance.
• * Inured to austere living conditions
• * Tradition of obedience to authority
• * Islam and the Arabic language are great
vehicles for motivation and control.
• *Dogged in Defense
• *History of “rising from the ashes”

15. ARAB
Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
• Overly Centralized
– Decisions made at higher
levels
– No subordinate input
– Written orders a must
– Top-heavy rank structure
– Very little latitude given
subordinates
– Stovepipe organization
inhibiting lateral
communications

16. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
• Inhibitions on
individual initiative
– “Nail that stands up
gets hammered down”
– Byproduct of an
authoritarian culture
– Comparison of the
Israeli and Egyptian
Suez crossing in 1973
– Soviet training
reinforced top-down
command style

17. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
• Decision-making and taking responsibility
– U.S. E-7 equals authority of most Arab O-5/O-6
– Always at the top
– Tendency to reject personal responsibility

18. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
• Distrust of military, especially ground
forces
– Balance of forces
• SANG and SALF
• Iraqi Army and Republican Guard
• Egyptian Army and Central Security Force
• Syrian Army and
Republican Guard
Division
– Dual-edged sword
– Examples
• Syrian in 1967
• Egypt in 1973
• Iraq in 1991

19. Weaknesses and vulnerabilities
Other effects of the environment
of distrust;
- Lack of effective joint operations
- Lack of effective coalition war
- Inhibitions on large –scale training

20. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
Arab
• The Heavy Hand of
Politicization
– The Islamist threat
– The ethnicity problem
– The waning but still
important place of
certain ideologies

21. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
Arab
• Manipulation of
information and
security
– Information is
power
– Paranoia on
security
– Examples
• Egyptians in 1973
• Egyptians and
Syrians in 1973

22. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
Arab
• Dissimulation and
Objectivity
– Killing the
messenger
– “The lie which
facilitates is better
than the truth which
confronts”
– Arabic language as a
powerful cultural
influence

23. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
Arab
• The Education Process
– By rote
– Instructor/instructors never challenged
– Rigid classroom
etiquette
• Questioning
• Grading
• Ranks

24. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities
Arab
• Officers and
Enlisted Gap and
Unit Cohesiveness
– Non-existent NCO
Corps
– EM treatment
execrable
– No communication
– Typical Egyptian
Army weekend in
tactical unit

25. Considerations in Assessing Arab
Military Effectiveness
Arabs have a flair for the dramatic and present
Outstanding “dog and pony” shows.

26. ARAB WAY of WAR
• The maintenance system is culture
dependent, e.g.,
mechanical aptitude
trust in subordinates
the educational system
infrastructure
dependence on outside support
Logistics and maintenance are perennial problems.

27. ARAB WAY OF WAR
• Urban warfare is the Middle East warfare of the
past and future
– 1948 Jerusalem: Israeli-/Arabs
– 1967 Jerusalem: Israeli conquest(reconquest)
– 1970 Amman: Jordanian conflict with PLO
– 1973 Suez City: Egypt stops Israeli attack
– 1975-1990 Lebanon: The civil war
– 1980/1981 Iran –Iraq: Khoramshar
– 1980 and 1982 : Syria. Islamist revolt
– 1989- 2002 Intifadah I and II in Palestine

28. Arab Way of War
• Israeli Tank in Bethlehem

29. THE ARAB WAY OF WAR
Look For a strategy of urban terrorism:
The lesson learned in the evolution of the PLO strategy
is that terrorism, not conventional or guerrilla war,
works.

30. As we must face in parts of Iraq

31. ARAB WAY OF WAR
To begin to understand the apparent Arab
propensity for self-sacrifice in terrorist attacks,
one must read Eric Hofer, The True Believer, and
Raphael Patai’s The Arab Mind.
“Dying and killing seem easy when they are part
of ritual, ceremonial, dramatic
performance……..”

32. ARAB WAY OF WAR
• “…One of the main tasks of a real leader is to
mask the grim reality of killing and dying by
evoking in his followers the illusion that they are
participating in a grand spectacle.”
• “Glory is a theatrical concept. There is no striving
for glory without a vivid audience…..the
knowledge that our mighty deeds will become
known to our contemporaries……….”
Above quotes from Eric Hofer

33. ARAB WAY OF WAR
• “It is a characteristic of the Arab mind to be
swayed more by words than ideas and ideas
more than facts”.
George Attiyeh in The Arabs.
Palestinian suicide bomber

34. ARAB WAY OF WAR
• The Influence of Arab Culture on Arab
Military effectiveness
– A PHD THESIS by Kenneth Pollack completed
in 1996 at The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
– HIS PRIMARY CONCLUSION
“Arab culture had a tremendous influence on the
ability of Arab militaries to conduct maneuver warfare,
and the weakness of Arab militaries in maneuver
warfare was the single most detrimental aspect of their
poor military performance.”

35. ARAB WAY OF WAR
Other findings of Pollock:
• Weakness in mechanized warfare
• Socio-economic backwardness
• Politicization of officer corps
• Focus on internal security

36. ARAB WAY OF WAR
Concluding Observations
In the Arab World if the right hand is active, keep
a sharp eye on the left.
• Reverse the Clausewitzean theorem; War is not a
continuation of politics but actually politics is a
continuation of war.
• The Middle Eastern wars will be most often
fought in urban areas.

37. ARAB WAY OF WAR
QUESTIONS?