KDF’s Military Might Yet To Be Tested

A wise man once said that the purpose of war is not war itself, but to advance one’s own policies and politics, and/or to quash any form of unwarranted aggression.

From that brief description, The Kenya Defence Forces had and still has every right to have set foot in Somalia. With the legitimacy question aside, it is increasingly becoming clear for all and sundry that The KDF is not cut-out for any type of warfare, save for peacekeeping missions.

The fact that Kenya has a representative at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) –not cheap to maintain an office in New York- and has had her military officers hold very senior positions within the UN peacekeeping missions worldwide, such as in Iran,Croatia,SierraLeone,Bosnia-Herzegovina,Liberia and presently in Somalia(under Amisom),show where our priorities and strengths lie.

Without belittling the importance of peacekeeping as an aid to ending conflict by creating conditions for lasting peace, our military’s replication of a similar strategy in Somalia does not appear to have worked as expected. It is noteworthy that in peacekeeping missions, emphasis is made on the observance of human rights; pre-deployment training programs actually have the International Humanitarian Law as the foundation.

Do we then expect too much of our defence forces who, to be honest, have never engaged in any serious warfare (thankfully) since the Shifta War of 1962-1965?

In terms of hardware, reconnaissance and troop numbers, KDF is up there with the best, if its recent ranking as the fifth most powerful army in Africa  after South Africa,Egypt,Libya and Nigeria (in that order) is anything to go by; suffice to say, there’s no doubt concerning its capability.

Following the recent ambush at the El Adde camp by the Al-shabaab that has shaken the entire nation and suffered many casualties and left families of the fallen soldiers in inexplicable grief, what could be holding the army top brass back from ordering a carpet-bombing of the militia group’s hideouts as well as locations where it is suspected that they’re being hidden by sympathisers?

After the cowards massacred 147of our future leaders a year ago at Garissa University, The KDF should have sent a very strong message by turning villages and towns upside down before Mogadishu got wind of what was happening. It would have been in their interest too.

This time round, General Samson Mwathethe,The Chief Of Defense Forces,has an opportunity to make things right by avenging the young lives brutally snuffed out. The regional geopolitics of the day as well as our C-in-C and his deputy’s arm’s length handling of the issue for fear of “crimes against humanity” reprisal by the ICC, provide a clear opportunity for the good general to rise to the occasion and take one for his bosses. 

Revenge:A dish best served cold

When the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the American Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941, killing more than 2,400 people and wounding thousands, and not to mention the damage to military infrastructure, the Americans, until then, spectators of the Hitler affront across Europe, found themselves deep in the centre of WWII in Europe after joining The Allied Forces.

The subsequent unconditional surrender by the Japanese Emperor after the Americans dropped Atomic bombs in Hiroshima (that wiped out 90% of the city, killing 80,000 people) and Nagasaki (killing 40,000 people) underscores the importance of a strong and decisive retaliation strategy. This action ended the WWII!Needless to mention,the Japanese are yet to attack The US again, 74 years later.

Military expertise in tactical warfare appears to be quite deficient especially so when Amisom leadership repeats the same mistake thrice (with Uganda and Burundi troops massacred earlier in a similar fashion,with similar troop profile as the El Adde incident)and expecting different consequences.

As regards strategy,we’re all accustomed to making long-term goals,which are otherwise referred to as dreams.It is not too late to begin planning for victory as well as  an exit strategy by whichever means necessary(Please note that the Americans did not attack Japan till the year 1945-That’s how important strategy is).

All great military leaders in history were known to be ruthless and heartless when it came to pursuing their goal;from Alexander the Great,Napoleon Bonaparte to Shaka Zulu.

General Mwathethe may not be anywhere near their ilk,but he has an opportunity to have his name immortalized in Kenya’s archives for what he does next to defend our borders.His colleague,General Nkaiserry,is doing great so far in this respect,as his Internal Security docket has in the recent past managed to keep us relatively safe from attacks.

Of course the use of an Atomic bomb today(or as North Korea recently bluffed about manufacturing a hydrogen bomb which,by the way, is 5000 times more powerful)is  sacrilege.However,what most people don’t realise is that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were attacked for strategic reasons- hundreds of factories that manufactured arms(including torpedos that could sink ships),and tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers awaiting deployment were stationed in the two cities.Civilian homes were also converted in to weapons production centres,thus there was no clear distinction between civilian and military targets.This is what necessitated the attack en masse.

The similarities between the aforementioned and our case in Somalia is quite glaring.Revenge is a dish best served cold,the Chinese say.Therefore,the KDF should be thinking strategically of how to end this Al Shabaab menace decisively and with finality.

Do it for the bereaved families

Renowned British poet and the world’s youngest Nobel literary laureate,Rudyard Kipling,whose body of work you might have come across in various publications or in your formal learning,lost his 18 year old son,John,during  WWI,and the young man’s body was never recovered at the time of his passing, some twenty odd years later.

It is widely believed that he wrote MY Boy Jack¹ in his remembrance, which I’ve taken the liberty to reproduce here, for the sake of those who still consider our sworn enemies’ human rights as a factor.

"Have you news of my boy Jack?"
Not this tide.
"When d’you think that he’ll come back?"
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

"Has any one else had word of him?"
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

"Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?"
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind —
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

                    -My Boy Jack, by Rudyard Kipling

How else can you console the relatives of the soldiers that were slain  in El Adde,some of whom are yet to know the whereabouts of their kin,if not by letting actions speak louder than words? For how long shall we let these boys toy around with our sanity?

Art imitating life

War movies and dramatisations  have made it a tad easier for viewers to picture the scale and emotion that goes on in a conventional combat scenario by chronologically depicting events as they occurred-from war room strategies,to propaganda and the eventual gory combat.Casualties,Letters from Iwo Jima,Saving Private Ryan,Enemy At The Gates,Pearl Harbor,Fury and other similar epic films are a great tribute to the sacrifices made by soldiers for the sake of freedom.

Great writings also, ranging from 50 Battles That Changed The World by Willian Weir to Night by Elie Wiesel (that chronicle’s the experiences in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II) provide alternative perspectives of war,and in the latter case,from the casualties’or victims’ side.

If one of our own accomplished movie directors say, Wanuri Kahiu,decided to do a film based on KDF’s exploits in the recent past, would we all like the ending of it? Would young men and women rush for enlisting into the army out of pride and patriotism, and not bribe their way into the camouflage outfit as is common today, just so as to eke a living?

If Ngugi wa Thiong’o decided to veer off from the tales of Mau Mau guerilla warfare and did a story, fiction or otherwise, on the present day KDF,do you imagine feeling jubilant and defiant as you do, say after reading Weep Not Child,or Matigari ma Njiruingi?

These are serious questions we need to ask ourselves.Let’s not reserve the sophisticated military equipment in our armoury,which actually leaves a huge dent in our national budget,for ceremonies and parades.

War is supposed to produce a new pedigree of leaders;thoroughbreds who having survived the battlefront become go-getters extra-extraordinaire,that is,for veterans who manage to overcome PTSD. That is why in recent history,leaders with no military experience were at a disadvantage when it came to contesting for higher offices.In business too,most entrepreneurs of a certain era are known to have gone through some form of military training which toughened them later on to become extra-ordinary,fearless achievers.

To the individual soldier,war is not such a bad experience afterall.The young men in uniform who survived the El Adde attack don’t need a hug from the motherly Defense Cabinet Secretary,Rachael Omamo to feel better.They knew what they were signing up for when they joined the KDF.We wish them a quick recovery so that they can go back and revenge for ‘every drop of blood spilt’ by their comrades(To use Gen. Mwathethe’s words).

It is said that no one has killed more people than God and Country. Let them do this for God and Country.

¹If you think the poet was quite attached to his son, wait till you read the poem IF..