When we think of wars we focus on the major battles of those wars, or those battles that have become symbolic of them. In America we recall the Battle of Lexington in the Revolutionary War, the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War, and the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War Two. The Russians might recall the Battle of Stalingrad, and the British the Battle of El Alamein; however, we tend to ignore or exhibit a complete lack of awareness on what is known as logistics, the ability to supply the armed force with the materials necessary to wage its military campaign.
World War Two was won primarily by American logistics. It provided the tanks necessary for General Montgomery in Africa, the food necessary to sustain the people of the British Isles, and the munitions necessary for the Russians. The American disruption of the logistical chain between Japan and its island outposts won the battle for control of the Pacific Ocean.
Perhaps one of the greatest logistical achievements the world has seen consisted of supplying the army of Alexander the Great as it traveled on foot from Greece through Egypt, Arabia, Afghanistan, and Persia to the borders of India. Another significant logistical achievement was the successful retreat from Vienna by the Ottoman leader Suleiman the Magnificent as he maintained his defeated army through inclement weather, a difficult terrain, and a hostile environment during its long journey home.
The brief excursion into the importance of military logistics presented above will hopefully provide a better understanding of ISIS activities in the Middle East. ISIS represents a military operation taking place in the dessert and consisting of thousands of men. These men need arms, food, and transportation in order to conduct their operations. Unlike more fertile environments, the desert does not offer sustenance to an army. Food and water must be brought to it along with munitions and fuel for their vehicles. The oil in the desert wells cannot be used for fuel, but must be refined and then transported to the combatants.
ISIS combatants cannot be concealed as was Chairman Mao’s army hiding in the mountains, or German mechanized units hiding in the forests before their attack on the Maginot Line. ISIS is out in the open and under the scrutiny of satellite cameras capable of accounting for every camel strolling in the desert. How can one believe that they were a surprise to the Western military?
In this era of accessible information in which everyone’s birth date, phone number, and credit card number is known to any organization that wants to learn of it, how could Western intelligence not know of the activity of ISIS?
The feminine oriented media of the West cannot shed any light on this situation due to its inability to conceptualize or discern between causes and effects; it can only report upon what it sees. How sad.
To compare ISIS to the activities of a few people who obtain guns, knives, hatchets, and matches and commit acts of terror in our institutions does not address the real issue, which is of a fighting force of thousands with sophisticated technology capable of inflicting considerable damage in an ever increasing sphere of operations.
ISIS is waging a ground war in Iraq and Syria and has had many successful engagements with its enemies. It also has brought down a Russian plane and inflicted considerable damage in France. To recruit, train, arm, and feed, that organization requires extensive logistical planning and lots and lots of money. Where do the arms and supplies come from? Who provides the money to sustain ISIS and why? These are questions that need to be asked by the media accompanied by a relentless pursuit of the answers.
Reporting on the military battles of ISIS and its incursions into Europe focuses on the effect while keeping the public ignorant of the cause.
If you agree with the views of this essay I ask that you send a copy to the news media that serves you. Perhaps they will realize that their analysis of the news needs a wake up call.
E.G.
