Unconventional Warfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Unconventional Warfare - Essay Example Guerilla warfare was first referred as a war of revolutionary nature by Mao Zedong who used it widely in his operations in China1. However it is used in modern insurgencies as a part of an integrated process with all the sophistications associated with an organized operation including propaganda capabilities, doctrines and specialist skills. 2 Kennedy Hickman, Fabian Strategy : Wearing Down the Enemy , 2007, About.com: Military History, The Medieval myth of Roland borne out of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass was won by the Basque due to the effective utilization of guerilla tactics3. 15th century saw the Vietnamese insurgency against the Chinese where as the 19th century saw the Balkan people using the same tactics to fight against the Ottoman Empire4. World War I and World War II also saw a number of guerilla warfare in the name of resistance movements and other insurgent activities. Guerilla warfare continues in many parts of the world post the II World War as well. However, the most common feature associated with unconventional warfare is its nationalist fighting nature which was evident in the rebellions. One key exception was the Columbian FARC which gave up armed rebellion following its electoral defeat only to resume it later and associate with the drug lobby against the traditions it followed6. 3Kennedy Hickman, Charlemagne: Battle of Roncevaux Pass, 2007, About.com: Military History, 4Walter Laqueur, Guerrilla Warfare - A Historical & Critical Study, 1998, (Transaction Books) 239-277 5 Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Warfare Conduct Of, Guerrilla Warfare," 1984 ed, p. 584 6Walter Laqueur, Guerrilla Warfare - A Historical & Critical Study, 1998, (Transaction Books) xi Two of the major victories of the guerilla warfare happened in Afghanistan and Chechnya, both of which coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The victory is mainly attributed to the fact that though the enemy was powerful, lacked the political will. Afghanistan war also gave a topographical advantage to the rebels which led to the evacuation of the Soviet troops in 1989. Guerillas failed to achieve decisive victories in a number of countries like Turkey, Algeria, Israel, Sri Lanka and Sudan, though they succeeded in causing sizeable harm to their enemies. Considerable help has been provided to the guerillas from abroad to keep the momentum going in the operation as in the Arab countries support given to the Palestinians and Afghans and the Indian Tamil support to the Sri Lankan Tamils7. The key forms of insurgency that is expected to control the modern era are likely to be driven by problems caused due to the increasingly commercialized and modernized world. This is expected to dominate the Third World countries with

The Verity of Fear and Pain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Verity of Fear and Pain - Essay Example He believed that his time in Auschwitz was a part of life, albeit one that he needed to put behind him. The author makes a valiant effort to look at a torture victim through the eyes of a person who is perpetrating the torture. He finds that there is nothing else there other than an all-consuming urge to subjugate a fellow human being completely, taking control of the very life force of another. The line that is to be analyzed is: "But in addition they tortured with the good conscience of depravity" (Amery, 1980). This is a clear indication of the fact that the captors were self-righteous about their acts of torture and had no doubts in their minds that they were completely in line with the tenets of Fascism - unfortunately, something that they were extremely proud of. Jean Amery being a member of a partisan anti-Gestapo group was a prime catch for Hitler's men. He was found with incriminating evidence that left no doubt in the minds of the captors about his political affinities. When he was finally brought to Breedonk, Amery had absolutely no illusions about what the Gestapo could do - but then, nothing really prepares you for the actual act of torture. It was at Breedonk that he actually understood the meaning of the word torture, which originated from the French word: torquere, which means 'to twist'. Left hanging by his captors, his arms dislocated, he lost all sense of reality, the pain that he felt could not be described at all. It was indeed quite difficult to quantify the level of pain that he felt at the hands of his torturers. The psyche of a torturer: To begin with, there is no marked difference in the behavior exhibited by a Nazi torturer and another of any other organization. The psychological changes that occur in the minds of a torturer are impacted by various factors. Primarily, it is the belief he has in the cause that he is either fighting for or believes in. When there is no doubt at all in his mind that his cause is a noble one he believes that anybody who does not share his views needs to be brought around to his way of thinking, preferably by force. A study done by American psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo reveals how people who are otherwise of fairly good and peaceable nature can turn violent, dominating and oppressive, when playing the roles of a subjugator. The study conducted at Stanford University had two groups of people who were called upon to play two roles - guards and prisoners. It was found that the 'guards' when dressed as guards - that is de-individuated - behaved in an excessively brutal manner (Zimbardo e t al, 1973). A number of other studies support these general findings - that anonymity allows an increase in aggressive antisocial behavior. These people are completely convinced that their role as oppressor is one that has to be played out with perfection, merely because it is what is expected of them at that particular point in time. They are unable to even think of the consequences or the sufferings that need to be endured by their victims. There is almost a missionary zeal in their performances as torturers as they cease to believe in the wrongness of the acts that they choose to commit. In the case of Amery's torture, they feel justified in their act mainly because they have apprehended a person who has political leanings that are totally out of sync with theirs. There is no doubt