Dry, but concise and illuminating

The Monarchs/Dictators buy the best equipment and turn it over to incompetency.
They are good for 4 things:
a. Holding their power
b. Suppressing their women
c. Drilling their oil
d. Drilling their young boys/livestock.

One of the reasons may also be the culture of tribalism. This clan doesn't trust others because they are a different clan or religious branch from the 'home' group.

T.E. Lawrence: So long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people - greedy, barbarous, and cruel, as you are.

Years ago, in a book about Popski's Private Army in WWII, I read that if you see a building anywhere in Northern Africa, you can be certain it was built by the Romans, because Arab men will not work.

That sems extravagant, but maybe there is a problem with efficient organization.

I spent six months as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania until we were kicked out during the Six-Day War.
Mauritania has moors (mixture of Arab and Berber) and blacks (Wolof or other tribes same as Senegal to the south).
Blacks were or are slaves; the moors drank tea while their black "associates" did all the work on dams and wells we were building. Funny thing, as a result of working the blacks had magnificent physiques, the Moors were scrawny. They sat around drinking tea.

Some years later the blacks finally rose in revolt.
As far as I know they still have slaves.

Maybe 4-5 years ago, there was an informative thread on this topic here.

I remember an old joke as to why Egypt lost to Israel in the Seven Day War. Their tanks did not have a reverse gear.

Now, imagine being the US military person who has been made responsible for 'training' the emerging military forces, so that you could leave. Imagine the political pressures to claim that training was successful.

The same principles can be applied to why large projects fail in business, why emergency management of large incidents fails, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
The Monarchs/Dictators buy the best equipment and turn it over to incompetency.
They are good for 4 things:
a. Holding their power
b. Suppressing their women
c. Drilling their oil
d. Drilling their young boys/livestock.

I take exception to c. Since when do they know how to drill oil? They know how to let oil companies drill in exchange for mucho dinero...

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:
Now, imagine being the US military person who has been made responsible for 'training' the emerging military forces, so that you could leave. Imagine the political pressures to claim that training was successful.

I've a childhood friend in the Army that did just that. He was in Saudi for four years training their Army officers on mission planning. He said, in general, most couldn't plan anything more complex than a company sized movement, and most of the time, things would collapse because of poor, confusing and counter communication from HQ, poor logistics and inattention by their higher leadership. Officers are chosen for their loyalty to the royal family, if not, their relation to them. Many of the enlisted are illiterate or, close to it, thus their ability to learn, comprehend and execute multiple tasks is stunted. As the video points out, units are good at what their leader is most concerned about. In the case of Arab armies, it's looking good in uniform and looking good for parades...war fighting, what's that?

quote:

Originally posted by Strambo:

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
The Monarchs/Dictators buy the best equipment and turn it over to incompetency.
They are good for 4 things:
a. Holding their power
b. Suppressing their women
c. Drilling their oil
d. Drilling their young boys/livestock.

I take exception to c. Since when do they know how to drill oil? They know how to let oil companies drill in exchange for mucho dinero...

+1 They hire foreign companies to drill, build o&g infrastructure, etc

You can't forget "Inshalla" or "As Allah wills it" attitude that permeates the Arab society.

Maintenance doesn't get done, or is not done anywhere near correctly.

A relative by marriage has some mind bending stories of living in Egypt.

I had the chance to talk to a Delta Force guy who trained with King Abdullah of Jordan, who went through a lot of US military training. He said that the king was a real deal commando who led from the front.

I guess he's the exception that proves the rule.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
I had the chance to talk to a Delta Force guy who trained with King Abdullah of Jordan, who went through a lot of US military training. He said that the king was a real deal commando who led from the front.

I guess he's the exception that proves the rule.

It's the family business.

There is always one guy in every class....

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Years ago, in a book about Popski's Private Army in WWII, I read that if you see a building anywhere in Northern Africa, you can be certain it was built by the Romans, because Arab men will not work.

That sems extravagant, but maybe there is a problem with efficient organization.

Or in Algeria La Légion Étrangère.

The Légion built most of the hard surface roads in the hinterlands that existed prior to 1930.

quote:

Originally posted by Nuclear:
You can't forget "Inshalla" or "As Allah wills it" attitude that permeates the Arab society.

Maintenance doesn't get done, or is not done anywhere near correctly.

A relative by marriage has some mind bending stories of living in Egypt.

This brings to mind the problem of cousin-marriage. Years ago I met an Egyptian who was in the US to earn enough money to get married back in Egypt. He planned to get married to his cousin as their relatives supervised her life so that she was a guaranteed virgin.

If your soldiers are inbred dummies that's a bad start.

I remember reading a while ago that Arab militaries, for the most part, operate on the insha'Allah principle when it comes to caring for and maintaining their equipment.

Meaning "if Allah wills it, that airplane will stay in the air, or that tank will keep running", regardless of whatever piss-poor or nonexistent maintenance they give them.

I did not find the presenter or information dry. What does that say about me?

quote:

Originally posted by domcintosh:
Now, imagine being the US military person who has been made responsible for 'training' the emerging military forces, so that you could leave. Imagine the political pressures to claim that training was successful.

Reminds me of the recent thread about the Vietnam war.