Review of "Armies of Sand: . . . Arab Military Effectiveness" by Kenneth M. Pollack

self | 2019 | Kenneth M. Pollack

[LS]

This continues my attempt to bring noteworthy books to the attention of Freepers. Vanity? Not really, but it is a way for me to organize in a short review the main points of relevant books to our current economic, military, or political issues.

"Armies of Sand" is an analysis by former CIA analyst and AEI scholar Kenneth Pollack. Although this was in part his doctoral dissertation, he has gone on to write many books about the military and especially the Middle East.

He begins by looking at the Six-Day War and Arab/Egyptian military ineffectiveness, noting the AE military superiority of 3.5:1 in aircraft, 2:1 in men; and 1.8:1 in tanks. Despite that, the Israeli Air Force knocked out almost 300 of Egypt's 420 combat aircraft in the first hours of the war. What happened next was key:

The Egyptian air force commanders lied. They told Nasser they had won a great victory, destroying 3/4 of the Israeli planes. Then the Israelis destroyed half the Syrian air force, including all but four of its new MIG-21 fighters. Once the ground war started, "In battle after battle, Egypt's field commanders demonstrated almost none of the skills needed to prevail in mechanized maneuver warfare." Egypt's "senior leadership was psychologically paralyzed by the speed and extent of the unfolding catastrophe." Egypt's frontline commanders refused to admit they were losing and instead sent back glowing reports of their "victories."

What accounted for the collapse? Pollack says the Arab/Egyptian armies had "no understanding of combined arms operations." But, to methodically build his case over a 500 page book, he looks at several accepted explanations for Arab military ineffectiveness. Among those theories are:

*Arabs were too wedded to Soviet doctrine and tactics. *Arab militaries were really "praetorian guards" designed to crush revolts, not fight enemies *Military ineptness is a direct result of Arab culture.

Pollack comes down hard on #3. Getting there, however, he engages in a meticulous study of numerous Arab wars, of the Soviet doctrine at work in Korea, Angola with the Cubans, and elsewhere, and of the charge of "praetorianism."

Pollack concludes that "in war after war, Arab junior officers were generally unimaginative and passive, making it nearly impossible for formations under their command to engage effectively in maneuver warfare [or of any combat] in which authority devolved upon the local commanders on the spot." Arab personnel "consistently exaggerated and even falsified reporting to higher echelons." Because of poor weapons handling skills and TERRIBLE maintenance practices, Arab armies and air forces with "advanced, even state-of-the-art equipment were often defeated by adversaries possessing less advanced, even primitive weapons. . . ."

Arab generals, he maintains, were NOT routinely bad---that they ran the gamut, and Arab soldiers individually proved quite brave, citing numerous rear guard actions where units fought to annihilation to protect their retreating comrades.

In his analysis of Soviet doctrine, Pollack notes that the 1991 Gulf War, which resulted in astounding loss-to-kill ratios for the Iraqis, came because once deprived of Soviet guidelines and command and control, Iraqis were "icapable" of "dogfighting or even fleeing effectively." Many Iraqi fighters FLEW INTO THE GROUND.

Looking at North Korean and Cuban (in Angola) combat performance, he asserts this "puts the nail in the coffin " of the theory that Soviet military doctrine was at the root of Arab problems. (He highly praises the Cuban military in Angola)

He analyzes and dismisses the notion that Arab armies are overly politicized, returning to the 1973 war to show that front line Egyptian commanders simply lied about their engagements. The Chief of Staff himself had to go to the front to see the disaster. In one engagement, 2 Israeli Phantoms took on 28 MiG-21s and MiG17s and shot down 8, chasing off the other 20 without a loss. He claims "in all three cases [he examined] when politicization was present, it had a profound impact on the strategic leadership, strategic intelligence gathering, and strategic information management," but that while it contributed to "poor performance . . . over time, it was not the only factor and not even the most important factor in their ineffectiveness."

The real culprit Pollack argues is Arab culture. There is a "constant pressure to conform [which] is a corresponding stifling of originality." The culture "consistently suppresses creativity, innovation, imagination, and all similar divergences from established patterns of action and thought." The culture favors centralization of authority and virtually all authority is centralized at the top, whether in the family, the government, or the military. There is also a strong honor and shame component. In Arab society, to do something wrong is much worse than to do nothing at all. By acting, an individual risks shame, but by not acting, there is no such risk. There are high levels of loyalty and solidarity, which accounts for Arab courage. If shame is present, though, it is better to conceal one's mistake than admit it.

What Pollack does stay far away from is Islam itself, trying to explain in terms of culture what might better be explained through religion. In Christianity, the notion of being flawed does not in itself involve shame because of forgiveness. In the American system derived from Christianity, even in business there is bankruptcy, which allows a do-over. There is no such concept in Islam. Likewise, in Islam there is an aversion to work, especially with one's hands. Manual labor is viewed as dishonorable. In Christianity, however it is celebrated. Paul even notes that he made tents with his own hands so as not to inconvenience his sponsors.

Pollack is ruthless in pointing out that Arab culture is in the toilet when it comes to innovation and invention, and even when Arab scholars manage to produce "scholarship," on average it is worse than their colleagues. One Arab scholar looked at the contributions made by Arab scientists in scientific journals. It came to 1% of the Israeli contribution. In 1973, when Arabs (based on population) should have had 8,000-14,000 papers in scientific journals, they had 847. "No matter what method was used to assess [Arab] productivity of scientific workers, the gap between what was actually produced and what was to be expected . . . was exceedingly large." There was a "notable absence of scientific contributions from Arab institutions." Israel registered 100 TIMES as many patents as Saudi Arabia. In the Arab world, a book that sold 5,000 copies was a best seller. [MAN, I WISH I COULD GET THAT DEAL!]

In addition, GDP per worker in Arab countries was negative during the 1990s for both oil-producing and non-oil producing states and was the lowest in the world. Because independent thought is frowned upon in Arab education, one Arab scholar said "The institutions of higher learning which mushroomed throughout the Arab world in the post-independence period produced scientists but not science, medical doctors but not medical science, social scientists but not social science, and so forth.

In conclusion, Pollack finds that the problems of Arab militaries are almost exclusively "derived from the dominant Arab culture." Even Iraqi allied units, hand-picked by American advisors, trained by Americans, and equipped by Americans still couldn't maintain their tanks and often drove them into Wadis. Since nothing can be done so far to change Arab culture (or Islam, which Pollack sidesteps), there will be no improvement in Arab militaries.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Larry.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3742041/posts

[SunkenCiv]

One Arab scholar looked at the contributions made by Arab scientists in scientific journals. It came to 1% of the Israeli contribution. In 1973, when Arabs (based on population) should have had 8,000-14,000 papers in scientific journals, they had 847. "No matter what method was used to assess [Arab] productivity of scientific workers, the gap between what was actually produced and what was to be expected . . . was exceedingly large." There was a "notable absence of scientific contributions from Arab institutions." Israel registered 100 TIMES as many patents as Saudi Arabia. In the Arab world, a book that sold 5,000 copies was a best seller.

[catnipman]

also, regarding Arab “culture”, it’s been my personal experience that these people lie about everything all the time, that lying is a way of life with them, and that you basically can’t believe a single word any of them say to you ...

and this cultural lying accounts for all levels of the military command structure always lying about everything going up the reporting chain ...

[TigerHawk]

“...there will be no improvement in Arab militaries.”

GOOD! There’s some sort of problem with that?

[rbg81]

I agree with many of these points. From what I’ve seen, Arabs want to be managers and do not want to get their hands dirty.

I’ve run into numerous Arabs with a BS in computer science who cannot write computer programs. This is despite have those courses on their transcripts with good grades. Early on, when I questioned one about this paradox, he said that in class they TALKED about how to program, but did not actually WRITE working programs. I was stunned. That is like going to car mechanic school and only talking about how to do repairs.

I have also heard that Arab armies do not have the well developed NCO structure we have here in the West. Rather it is the junior officers who are supposed to perform the NCO function. But it does not work out that way. They give orders to the troops (e.g., set up camp) and then walk away and congregate with their officer buddies. There is a class difference between officer and enlisted and no good way to bridge that gap.

[Zhang Fei]

Arabs are cynics, not Germans - they’re not robots who obey whatever their leaders say. Arabs will fight to the death, but for their clans and families rather than the monarch or president-for-life of the moment. Sure - they’ll join the chorus of people uttering the empty slogan of the moment just to blend in. But when it comes to laying down their lives - that’s reserved for family and clan.

[okie 54]

Arab is synonymous with inept

[Gen.Blather]

“these people lie about everything”

Yep. I worked with many Arabs and can verify the lying. However, I worked for an Israeli defense company and sometimes the Israelis would compete to see who could get the most outrageous lie believed by one of our credulous Christians who, apparently, couldn’t believe anyone would lie. They thought getting him to believe lies was a hoot. (It annoyed me no end.) The Israelis would also lie to make others look bad and themselves look good. But, all in all, they didn’t lie as much or as widely as the Arabs I worked with. If it was something serious, they “generally” told the truth. Interestingly, I don’t think they lied to each other.

[Amberdawn]

Which explains why they’ll go around the world to murder Christians in the name of islam.

[Psalm 73]

All that, and add that they can't do aircraft maintenance or logistics, (or maintain any other technical systems) to save their lives.
More than pathetic.

[Zhang Fei]

[Which explains why they’ll go around the world to murder Christians in the name of islam.]

---

Suicidal religious zealots are an infinitesimal % of the ~2b Muslims on the planet. A few thousand kamikaze types are not representative of the entire population. That’s why most Middle Eastern regimes remain standing today - their troglodyte ISIS and al Qaeda-supporting Islamist populations don’t like them, but don’t particularly want to lose their lives engaging in the waves of suicide attacks that would actually topple those regimes. Their attitude to self-sacrifice can be boiled down to “you first”. Don’t get me wrong - if they could kill all non-Muslims with little risk, they would. But sacrifice their lives to do this? “You first”.

[BeauBo]

“The real culprit Pollack argues is Arab culture. There is a “constant pressure to conform [which] is a corresponding stifling of originality.” The culture “consistently suppresses creativity, innovation, imagination, and all similar divergences from established patterns of action and thought.” The culture favors centralization of authority and virtually all authority is centralized at the top”

That comes from living under the totalitarian dictatorship which is islam.

“Honor and shame” is more of a purely cultural characteristic.

[BeauBo]

“Arabs will fight to the death, but for their clans and families”

We saw that during the Gulf War, in the performance of the tribally organized Saudi Arabian National Guard units operating with their tribesman and relatives in defense of their home areas. Their combat effectiveness ratings were increased afterwards, as result of how they performed.

[BeauBo]

Thanks for your great synopsis of this study.

[Zhang Fei]

[Which explains why they’ll go around the world to murder Christians in the name of islam.]

---

And even among that tiny number (thousands, at most, if you lump every reported instance of sudden jihad syndrome in with 9/11) they’re not obeying what their leaders say - they’re responding to ancient religious edicts. The Crusaders, venturing into the literal wastelands (i.e. arid deserts) of the Middle East in significant numbers against overwhelming odds, at a time when the mere journey there was dangerous even without human enemies getting in the way, had a lot more of this self-sacrificial, kill-the-Muslim-infidel impulse than our current batch of all-talk, no-action Muslims. The Muslims here aren’t particularly moderate. But the vast majority are also personally not into long prison terms or the needle for mounting terror attacks, let alone suicide attacks. As I’ve written before - with regard to self-sacrifice for the cause, the attitude of most Muslims is “you first”.

[TigerHawk]

You are so right!

In my younger days I was in the Middle East, and had to deal with an Arab Sheik (just the head of a small clan) who had given me his word, and then broke it. The ultra macho culture that it is forced me to confront him on the matter, so I went to his camp (he was a Bedouin) alone, but armed. Now this is a very tricky sort of thing because it is considered an affront to enter a Bedouin camp armed, without the permission of the head man, but I was not going to give up my weapons.
This was resolved in my favor, and I was permitted to enter, and speak with the Sheik.
The first thing you look for in this situation is to be given food, or drink, so as to come under the Arabic laws of hospitality, so you know (or believe) that you are safe from harm. No food or drink, get up and leave because that’s a declaration that you are in mortal danger.
I was immediately offered food and drink. We exchanged pleasantries for a while, and finally I broached the subject in the most diplomatic manner I could manage.

“You said such and such to me, and it turned out not to be so. This was not good for me. I depended on your word. Why was it not upheld?”
He laughed. Very good naturedly actually, and asked me how old I was.
“I’m 38 years old. What does that matter?”
“TigerHawk, what would make a man 38 years old believe anything anyone says?”

I wanted to strangle him as he laughed! Because he’s right, isn’t he? THAT is Arab culture. THAT is how they deal with each other, and the world.
We innocent, foolish, Americans believe in such stupid concepts and phrases as “He’s a man of his word,” “You can take his word to the bank.” “He’s as good as his word.”
In OUR culture , once a man’s word is no good, once he’s proven a liar, he is held in contempt, and dishonor, and never trusted again. His word is no good. Arabs have absolutely NO CONCEPT of this, they lie to each other constantly, and govern themselves in all matters accordingly, and think us fools, and laugh at us.

We prove them right, time and again.

That was a great lesson he taught me.
I don’t hate Arabs individually, but I despise, loathe, and damn their culture to Hell.
And frankly, they can not be separated from that culture, so
I despise them as well.
They are NEVER to be trusted.

[marktwain]

Christianity and Judaism have the commandmant: Thou shalt not lie.

I do not think Islam has anything similar.

Mohammed was considered the man to emulate, and he lied all the time.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Your synopsis runs parallel to:
Spotting the Losers: Seven Signs of Non-Competitive States
1998 Ralph Peters
https://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/parameters/articles/98spring/peters.htm

Yes, I know that Peters went sideways, but this article is on the money.

The failure is greater where the avoidance of responsibility is greater. In the Middle East and Southwest Asia, oil money has masked cultural, social, technical, and structural failure for decades. While the military failure of the regional states has been obvious, consistent, and undeniable, the locals sense—even when they do not fully understand—their noncompetitive status in other spheres as well. It is hateful and disorienting to them. Only the twin blessings of Israel and the United States, upon whom Arabs and Persians can blame even their most egregious ineptitudes, enable a fly-specked pretense of cultural viability.

[PUGACHEV]

For many years in the ‘80s, I did criminal defense work, often court appointed, and lots of it. One of our favorite conversations was the different ways our clients lied to us. If from the middle east, the lies were intricate and always self serving. For an Asian client, the truth was wholly dependent on the necessities of the situation. That is, if no one could say what really happened, the truth depended on whose grandmother was ill and who needed the money or to stay out of trouble the most. Americans lied in a simple, dogish fashion, usually telegraphing their shame. The worst in my experience were the Filipinos who just lied in any way they wanted to without shame or malice.