Why Arabs Lose Wars - Historum

Scaeva · November 10th, 2012, 02:34 PM

Why Arabs Lose Wars

I stumbled across this awhile back, and thought it offered an interesting perspective on why, generally speaking, Arab armies have performed poorly in the modern era against Western ones.

Do you think the author is correct, or do you disagree with his assessment?

**bartieboy** · November 10th, 2012, 02:47 PM

Aye, I read it before already, the topic title is a bit risky, makes one think it is race biased.

sylla1 · November 10th, 2012, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scaeva

Why Arabs Lose Wars

I stumbled across this awhile back, and thought it offered an interesting perspective on why, generally speaking, Arab armies have performed poorly in the modern era against Western ones.

Do you think the author is correct, or do you disagree with his assessment?

Quote:

Arabic-speaking armies have been generally ineffective in the modern era. Egyptian regular forces did poorly against Yemeni irregulars in the 1960s.1 Syrians could only impose their will in Lebanon during the mid-1970s by the use of overwhelming weaponry and numbers.2 Iraqis showed ineptness against an Iranian military ripped apart by revolutionary turmoil in the 1980s and could not win a three-decades-long war against the Kurds.3 The Arab military performance on both sides of the 1990 Kuwait war was mediocre.4 And the Arabs have done poorly in nearly all the military confrontations with Israel. Why this unimpressive record? There are many factors—economic, ideological, technical—but perhaps the most important has to do with culture and certain societal attributes which inhibit Arabs from producing an effective military force.

Please note both the Yemeni irregulars and the Syrian enemies in Lebanon were Arab too...

Should we understand that the (non-Arab) Kurdish and Iranian troops had a better military culture than the Arabs?

Yup, the vastly better armed & trained American & Israeli military forces have systematically had better performances than their Arab enemies (and even allies)... and arguably than most other armies all around this Planet.
God only knows why.

IMHO Col. De Atkine miserably fails to overcome his own stated and perfectly valid initial objections on the risks of military bigotry & prejudice.

deke · November 10th, 2012, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scaeva

Why Arabs Lose Wars

I stumbled across this awhile back, and thought it offered an interesting perspective on why, generally speaking, Arab armies have performed poorly in the modern era against Western ones.

Do you think the author is correct, or do you disagree with his assessment?

meforum is a zionist and islamophobic website... Look at the articles they host.

tomar · November 10th, 2012, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scaeva

Why Arabs Lose Wars

I stumbled across this awhile back, and thought it offered an interesting perspective on why, generally speaking, Arab armies have performed poorly in the modern era against Western ones.

Do you think the author is correct, or do you disagree with his assessment?

He fails miserably and the site itself has a profound bias

While some of what he is says is true, it has nothing to do with ethnicity or culture but rather with the level of development and wealth of the countries... You would find most if not all of these "problems" in Latin America, Africa and in some Asian countries.... who are obviously not arab

In summary it is no surprise that countries with a low GDP per capita and little or no industrial capacity to produce advanced weapons have armies that cannot compete with those of the richer, industrialized countries.

Locke · November 10th, 2012, 07:58 PM

Don't underestimate Arabic military forces, properly armed and deployed these people are almost unstoppable. Lack of advanced weaponry, is my thought.

**Ancientgeezer** · November 10th, 2012, 08:43 PM

The Arab Legion under Glubb Pasha was pretty effective, so were the Omani forces in the 1960s and 70s with a mix of British and Omani officers.

funakison · November 10th, 2012, 10:31 PM

Why do arabs lose wars, they dont have the most up to date American equipment

harbinger · November 10th, 2012, 10:37 PM

He is correct in many respects as israel has proved in many occasions.Individually nothing is wrong with the arab soldier but their military culture is flawed.Tribes are obsolete in the age of nations.I don't think this was a racist article at all tbh.

Essa · November 10th, 2012, 11:30 PM

I'd agree to that given it concerns "modern age" only...

That comes to no surprise to me as its due to many reasons like political weakness, mess, choas, and negligance that affected the Arab world starting from the decline of the Abbassid Caliphate....the gradual fragmentation of the empire was a main reason for Arabs lagging nations in technology and other aspects....

But I don't think its a loss of fighting quality....even at modern age, there are cases where Arabs have demonstrated a presence of quality/spirit. Some of the cases I recall (for which I think the author didn't consider) are:

- Performance of the Morroccan/Algerian troops in the Battle of France was marked with "Distinction".

- Egyptian army taking of Canal Suis in 1973 (Crossing of Bar Lev line).