Blog offers a bit of Socratic dialogue about COIN ROE

Hat Tip to WOI for this one. Interesting post , part of an ongoing discussion of the relative merits of the stringent ROE of COIN vice less stringent alternatives, more or less clearly defined. The post includes a nice bit of dialogue, a funny example of being led into a Socratic trap. The Socratic trap is actually an attempt to make a logical point. Socrates would regularly wield this mighty weapon, attempting to show interlocutors that they has not fully thought out the implications, and possible contradictions inherent in claims or positions they held. Socrates, (who by the way was a not-to-shabby warrior himself) would be proud.

Now, if Plato, the man who best preserved the memory of Socrates for us, had handled this dialogue he would have no doubt, placed the characters sitting in the warm Attic sun, on the porch of the Strategeion, the meeting place of the 10 Generals of ancient Athens, a sort of Joint Chiefs. This meeting place was conveniently located in the Agora, within walking distance of great restaurants.

As we join the conversation, :

“War is War”-ior: What we need to do is avoid winning hearts and minds and focus on killing the enemy.

MC: Well, don’t we kill the enemy?

“War is War”-ior: Yes, but we need to kill more of them.

MC: How do you do that?

“War is War”-ior: By getting better intelligence.

MC: Well, how do we get that?

“War is War”-ior: By convincing the population to support us.

MC: You mean win their hearts and minds?

“War is War”-ior: Well no, not winning their hearts and minds, but having them support us.

End scene.

Socrates: Heh.