The Korea Times
TORONTO – Setting aside the moral, legal, and political arguments against the United States attacking Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest war cannot be won for a more fundamental reason: it is based on whim. War planning follows a certain logic. A vital interest, such as protecting citizens’ safety or national security, impels leaders to devise a policy for achieving that goal in a particular part of the world. As Carl von Clausewitz famously put it: “War is nothing but the continuation of policy with other means.” Policy often leads to strategy, an overall plan for victory that accounts for the tactics to be used. An operation is a specific act in a specific setting, whose success depends on having the necessary capabilities, including human resources and weapons. The logic flows forward and backward, as a design and as a verification. In design, each item determines the next: interest determines policy, policy determines strategy, strategy determines tactics, tactics determine operations, and operations determine capabilities. Verification reverses the flow: Do we hav
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