Mein Seven Pillars of 1984

America's Long War

Last week US defence chiefs unveiled their plan for battling global Islamist extremism. The report sets out a plan for prosecuting what the Pentagon describes as "The Long War", which replaces the "war on terror".

It brings to my mind the scenario in Orwell's 1984, where Big Brother maintains power through a purported state of permanent world war.

Concerning their proposed method, the defence chiefs write:

"One historical example that illustrates both concepts comes from the Arab revolt in 1917 in a distant theatre of the first world war, when British Colonel T E Lawrence and a group of lightly armed Bedouin tribesmen seized the Ottoman port city of Aqaba by attacking from an undefended desert side, rather than confronting the garrison's coastal artillery by attacking from the sea."

It's OK to quote Lawrence's successful military tactic as worth emulating, but what about his overall tactics? He was a friend and sympathiser to the Arabs; he learned their language and promoted their cause.

I've read in a lot of places of the bewilderment of many that Adolf Hitler had laid out all his worst intentions well before WWII in his book 'Mein Kampf', but few had bothered to read it.

Maybe there's a lesson there. T E Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, can teach us much, much more of importance than mere military strategy - how to make peace, even!

However, if you're gonna quote Lawrence's methods, then get it right when you try to emulate them. This is Simon Jenkins in the Guardian of February 10th.

"Lawrence, though dog-tired, immediately understood that he must appoint a Syrian military governor and a chief of police likely to command local support. Every official, whatever their loyalty, was told to report for work at once. Engineers were sent to mend the water supply and electricians to get the streets lit by nightfall as a sign that he was in control. He secured food supplies and even went personally to inspect the hospital, full of dead and dying soldiers. An account of the visit formed the dramatic climax to the Seven Pillars.

The British aide Colonel Stirling wrote of that weekend that "a thousand and one things had to be thought of, but never once was Lawrence at a loss". He met any breaches of order with a bullet. He also knew that this might be no passing glory. He wanted Emir Feisal to rule a new Arabia, but when an Arab asked him if Allenby's troops were coming, he answered: "Certainly, but the sorrow is that afterwards they may not go."