MULLAHS AND MISSILES 205decisively deficient in these commodities. The military tradition that once
produced such ferocious warriors as the Janissaries and the Mamluks has
long vanished. Even if the Muslim military societies still existed, the social
environment on which Western military techniques, and the technology
upon which it rests and depends, will not exist in the Muslim world until
there are major cultural changes.
The officers produced by Middle Eastern cultures come from elements
of society different from those that provide the common soldiers. Though
this is true throughout the world, the difference is far greater in the Middle
East. This prevents the bonding and trust that provides the staying power
of Western armies. Education in the Middle Eastern states is so poor that
the technical skills necessary to maintain tanks, aircraft, and electronics
simply do not exist in sufficient depth to support a modern military force.
It is impossible to say if Osama bin Laden recognized these failures of
his world, but he did come to a correct conclusion: the Muslim world can
not engage in conventional warfare with the West. He has chosen terrorism
as an alternative. Terrorism is such an anemic form of warfare that it
hardly qualifies as such. It is difficult to imagine that his terrorism will
avail much. For several generations it hasn’t helped the Palestinians and
seems unlikely to help Bin Laden. Still, it may be the only type of warfare
that backward nations can employ against the forces of the modern world.
If so, some Muslim forces will still be in the mold of practicing futile and
unsuccessful military arts, a bleak prospect indeed.
CHRONOLOGY
1947 India and Pakistan become independent. War breaks out.
1948 First Arab-Israeli war
1948 Cease-fire between India and Pakistan
1956 Second Arab-Israeli war (Suez War)
1965 First India-Pakistan war
1967 Third Arab-Israeli war (Six Days’ War)
1971 India attacks Pakistan, creating Bangladesh from East
Pakistan.
1973 Fourth Arab-Israeli war
1979 Soviet Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Fighting continues
into 1989.