Author: M. L. Cavanaugh

Money as a Nuclear Weapon

Money as a Nuclear Weapon

| 02.21.14 | Commentary & Analysis

Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend…

By Major Matt Cavanaugh

In Iraq and Afghanistan, one commonly heard phrase was to “employ money as a weapon system.”  The idea was a simple one in Iraq – if you can get what you want with a dinar or dollar as opposed to a bullet – that is clearly preferable.  This tracks with common sense.  My Dad used to tell me that if you’ve got a problem and a check that can cover that problem – then you don’t have a problem.  Supporting military counterinsurgency techniques with financial resources designed to connect the people to their established government makes sense. 

So how did we (the U.S. and the rest of the International Security Assistance Force) screw it up so badly in Afghanistan?  Simply put, we nuked the Afghan economy – we drowned the baby in bathwater.  To say that we overdid aid would be a massive understatement.

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In retrospect: was Afghanistan worth it?

In retrospect: was Afghanistan worth it?

| 02.14.14 | Commentary & Analysis

Friday’s Last Word – Pull Pin, Throw Grenade, Run Away: A provocative thought to kick off the weekend…

By Major Matthew Cavanaugh

 

In teaching Military Strategy we cover Clausewitz (as one might expect).  Yesterday I taught the back half of a two-part lesson on this important war theorist, and tied in two of his concepts with Sun Tzu’s.  The two “megaconcepts” are interaction and rationality (and come from Bradford Lee of the Naval War College’s work).

Interaction is about the day to day fight – the “duel,” as Clausewitz puts it.  This would also fall in with Clausewitz’s first definition of war – “an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.”  One could think of a combatant commander, in theater, directing military forces in this interaction.  In this megaconcept, war is oriented towards the contest.

Rationality is about the broader purpose for the war – the context.  Clausewitz gives us another definition of war that aligns with this concept – that war is “an act of policy.”  Consider the U.S. President as a commander in chief, with a wide-angle lens, paying attention to two rational calculations: one, can our means deliver the ends we seek?  Two, is the benefit worth the costs (blood and treasure) to be paid? Clausewitz covers this second point,  

“Since war is not an act of senseless passion but is controlled by its political object, the value of this object must determine the sacrifices to be made for it in magnitude and also in duration.  Once the expenditure of effort exceeds the value of the political object, the object must be renounced and peace must follow.”(Paret and Howard translation, 92)

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Sun Tzu: Attack the enemy’s strategy first – two recent examples

Sun Tzu: Attack the enemy’s strategy first – two recent examples

| 02.13.14 | Commentary & Analysis

By Major Matt Cavanaugh

Teaching Sun Tzu can be fairly straightforward – and kind of tough.  For example, what does he mean when he writes that “what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy?” (Griffith translation, p. 77).  Moreover, he writes that this should take precedence over other options – like attacking the enemy’s alliances, army, and cities (in order).  That sounds great – sort of like telling a trader to “buy low, sell high” – but what does it actually look like?

I believe I’ve found a couple of useful examples.  One is from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the other is from the war in Afghanistan.

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