Random Thoughts of a Muddled Mind

The current debate in Washington concerns the comments by the President dealing with the issue of changing tactics for dealing with Iraq. He has consistently stated that he will not change the strategy, but that tactics would be analyzed and adjusted as necessary. Last night, during a discussion, I realized that the person I was having the discussion with did not understand the difference between the two terms. They are not synonymous.

Strategy is immutable; it is a Big Picture look at a problem that focuses upon the entire forest and not individual trees. Military concepts such as objective, offensive, simplicity, unity of command, mass, economy of force, maneuver, surprise, and security represent the timeless principles of strategy. Why do you think Sun Tzu’s The Art of War has been a best seller for thousands of years and translated into every imaginable language? Because it teaches strategy and the lessons of strategy are timeless. They are bound to our very nature as humans.Tactics vary with circumstances and, especially, technology. If I were to teach you how to be a soldier during the American Revolution, you would learn how to form and maneuver in lines, perform the 27 steps in loading and firing a musket, and how to ride and tend to a horse. Naturally, yesterday’s tactics won’t win today’s wars – but yesterday’s strategies still win today’s wars… and will win them tomorrow and into the future.

So, tactics present a Small Picture perspective where individual trees are in focus but the Big Picture of the forest is not. Just as your eyes have to look up from this page to refocus on the larger room you’re reading it in, so strategy and tactics require a different focus.(source)

Not understanding the difference colors the debate, and creates a framework for discussion that does not allow for an honest assessment of the situation as it now exists. The frequently made argument is that the President is inflexible, and unwilling to address changes that need to be made…but that just does not seem to be the case.

“One must change one’s tactics every 10 years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority …”(source)