Lecturer highlights importance of accurate power assessments

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rachel Waller
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England - --  than 60 Airmen from Team Mildenhall and several members from RAF Honington attended a lecture titled "Small Wars, Big Consequences," by Tarak Barkawi, Ph.D., at the 100th Operations Group auditorium Jan. 6.

The speaker from the department of politics at the New School for Social Research, University of Cambridge, England, focused his lecture on the conceptual problems and the ramifications of fighting small conflicts.

"Small wars are the kind where strong powers fight against weak," said Barkawi.

Barkawi referred to the world wars as large wars and termed smaller-scale conflicts like colonial wars and hostiles in Africa and other parts of the world as small wars.

One possible consequence Barkawi focused on was how large nations sometimes misjudge their power and the opposition.

"I'm talking about overestimating yourself and underestimating the enemy because you think you're strong, modern and have a lot of kick," said Barkawi.

In order to battle this conceptual problem, Barkawi referred to the old adage from Sun Tzu, a Chinese war philosopher and author of "The Art of War."

"'Know thyself, know thy enemy,' said Tzu, and this still rings true today," said Barkawi.

During his lecture, Barkawi used historical examples, such as the Vietnam War, where he said the West underestimated their opponent.

"Vietnam serves as a great example of an unsuccessful conflict that still has a positive impact on the population, especially in the South," said Lt. Col. Thomas Torkelson, 351st Air Refueling Squadron commander, who had the privilege of visiting Vietnam.

Torkelson shared his experiences with the audience.

"In the South, I could visualize Soldiers still being around Saigon," said Torkelson. "There are neon lights; they're using the dollar bill as their currency, drinking Budweiser and riding around on mo-peds. It was pretty cool.

"When I went up North, it was almost like crossing a border," said Torkelson. "It was grey, dark, stark and sterile. There is a war museum in Hanoi. It had empty helmets, our ID cards, our dog tags and other stuff like that on display."

Torkelson said that when he talked to the locals, he learned that 75 percent of the nation had been born since the war and had no first hand memory of the war, that it was just a story to them.

Torkelson said that his time spent in Vietnam was an interesting experience and that although the conflict was unsuccessful, the repercussions were positive.

Barkawi summed up his lecture by stressing the importance of not underestimating opponents.