Intellectual Conservative Politics and Philosophy » Tom Snodgrass

Can There Be Radicals Without Radical Doctrine?

Tom Snodgrass — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:18:13 +0000

President Obama is using the al-Qaeda label to obfuscate and to avoid examining what common threat doctrine binds the global and domestic jihad against the U.S. and other infidels.

President Obama told the nation in the wake of the Islamic jihadi Christmas bombing attempt:

We are at war against al Qaeda, a far-reaching network of violence and hatred [...]

How to Defeat Islam

Tom Snodgrass — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:00:02 +0000

To defeat stateless Jihadi groups like al-Qaeda and the Taliban, we must jettison our Cold War national security thinking featuring limited war and instead realistically reassume our World War II strategic offensive posture.

The framework for war

Today a debate rages. Part of the debate, certainly the most immediate component of the debate, is what to do with [...]

Is there a viable military strategy for disarming Iran? (Part II)

Tom Snodgrass — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:00:32 +0000

The lessons of RAF colonial air control and Allied interdiction in World War II lay out a clear blueprint the US could use to disarm our implacable Islamic enemy, the mullah government of Iran.

Is There a Viable Military Strategy for Disarming Iran? (Part I)

What is “air control?”

“Air control” was an idea pioneered by the British [...]

Is There a Viable Military Strategy for Disarming Iran?

Tom Snodgrass — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 11:00:22 +0000

Dealing a deathblow to the Iranian resupply of Shi’ite and Sunni Jihadists would strike at both the insurgents' capability in Iraq and the motivation of Islamic Jihadists throughout the world.

Why are we at war?

To answer that question during World War II, the US Army Signal Corps produced a series of seven films under the supervision of Frank Capra [...]

Christian Just War Doctrine, Is it Feasible Against Islam?

Tom Snodgrass — Thu, 17 May 2007 12:41:48 +0000

As was the case in the World War II Pacific Theater, the Islamic enemy’s disregard for any human or Judeo-Christian standard of morality makes the application of normally acceptable jus in bello criteria absolutely impossible and therefore inapplicable.

The jus ad bellum criteria are (1) just cause in terms of self-defense and protection of innocents; [...]

Clausewitz Revisited

Tom Snodgrass — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:57:57 +0000

Trying to subdue “savagery” with “civilized ideology” is, as Clausewitz long ago demonstrated, absurd.

War is merely the continuation of policy by other means. — Carl von Clausewitz, On War, p. 87, Princeton University Press, 1989.

. . . victory consists not only in the occupation of the battlefield, but in the destruction of the [...]

Small Wars Lead to Big Defeats

Tom Snodgrass — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:54:02 +0000

The American political elite, the American media, and the American public have lost the ability to see war with the same clear-sighted understanding that led us to victory in World War II. That is, to prevail in war often involves unpleasant and devastating choices.

As applied to the United States, small wars are operations undertaken [...]

War By the Rules of Rational Choice Theory

Tom Snodgrass — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:50:07 +0000

Thomas Schelling brought his game theory to the Johnson administration and gave a bad President a “strategy cover” for not destroying the enemy’s center of gravity in the Vietnam War, thus formally incorporating appeasement as an integral element of American war strategy.

"The power to hurt can be counted among the most impressive attributes of [...]

The Iraq Theatre and the War: A Military Reader’s Digest

Tom Snodgrass — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:22:47 +0000

The key to winning or losing the Iraqi Theater resides in the strategic vision of US politicians and the military command to clearly identify the enemy, locate their command and control centers, and destroy them. If this means Tehran, it means Tehran.

"The Americans will always do the right thing . . . after they've [...]

Counterinsurgency Does Not Have To Be Vietnam Redux

Tom Snodgrass — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:30:36 +0000

Clear and hold is absolutely essential in counterinsurgency because providing security for the indigenous population must be the first order of business in order to separate the insurgents from the people.

Last week the article, "Insurgencies Rarely Win – And Iraq Won't Be Any Different (Maybe)," was brought to national attention on the Rush Limbaugh radio program. [...]