The Nomadic Alternative – Page 96

or tribal movement should have no acknowledged leaders, or at least

- as in the case of General Grivas - his identity should be kept

secret. The movement then becomes a many-headed hydra, and peaceful

negotiations and betrayals are almost impossible. All outsiders are

legitimate prey - to be murdered, kidnapped, tricked, betrayed,

ambushed and spied on at all times.

Guerilla and nomad warfare assumes that, given enough rope, the

enemy will hang himself. "The opportunity of defeating the enemy

is provided by the enemy himself." - Sun Tzu. The nomad understands

the virtue of flight, because his life is a perpetual flight. The

city dweller does not. "They do not consider it a disgrace to run

away"; the Chinese Imperial Secretary complained of the Huns, "their

only concern is self-advantage and they know nothing of propriety

or righteousness." - the assumption so recurrent in our time that

the enemy is morally obliged to show its face. Marco Polo had a

similar comment to offer on the tactics of Mongol cavalry. "They

never let themselves come to close quarters, but keep perpetually

riding round and shooting into the enemy. And as they do not count

it a shame to run away in battle, they will sometimes pretend to

do so, and in running away they turn in the saddle and shoot hard

and strong at their enemy. In this way they cause great havoc."

The technique of "attack and withdrawal" is to lure, by feint

or decoy, the enemy further and further away from his base of opera-

<tions into the desert, swamp or forest, where his heavy equipment

bogs down and becomes useless. If he is sensible, he will realize

he has reached the point of diminishing returns. "No profit", the

Imperial Secretary lamented, "comes to an army that has to fight

a thousand miles from home." Usually, however, he is not sensible.

He is elated. The enemy are cowards and the operation will come to

a speedy conclusion. Meanwhile the guerillas have secreted squads

of informers, spies and secret agents into the passive settled

population, and thus prepare the ground before delivering the final

thrust.