What is the enemy? Who is the enemy? How is the enemy defined within the context of a military campaign?

An enemy could be defined under the following areas:

• Armed forces of a belligerent or hostile government
• Armed anti-government forces
• Dissidents
• 5^th columnists
• Revolutionaries and their supporters
• Well armed criminal groups

As one can see the lines are not clearly defined, one spilling into the other. What starts off as well armed criminal groups turns into citizens/dissidents unhappy with the current government mobilizing themselves with anti-government forces. Note: one concrete responsibility of a leader is to maintain social cohesion- without it a society breaks down going towards internal chaos.

What does a state do when faced with these kinds of enemies?

Is it a swift campaign or a protracted war?

There is an saying “You must not fight too often with one enemy or you will teach him all your art of war” and this goes doubly for those fighting both internal and external enemies. Once your enemy has learned what you do and how you do it then the situation is either evened out leading the table being turned and the enemy taking lead. This leads us to the next section which looks at factors that motivate people to becoming an enemy of the state.

Contributing factors that Motivate the enemy

• Religious Extremism
• Radical Ideology
• Ethnic / Cultural Fanaticism
• Xenophobia
• Criminal desire
• Various political and Economic thought
• Superstition—yes, this due to consistent witch hunting, leading to hanging and violence upon those labeled as witches without due process. The acts going unchecked can allow affected families to join those who desire harm to the state.
• The Geneva Convention protocols are ignored simply cause those acting against the state do not recognize much less accept them and in some cases are not aware they exist, thus, They will play by their own rules.

Media usage by the enemy

Due to consistent use of social media, the enemy has an easier time passing around information quickly making it difficult for the general population to verify the information being passed around. This is some cases leads to the state shutting down all social media to cut short the issue.

Part of a successful propaganda campaign is to tell the truth mix with lies. Note example below from current social media in July 2024:

Kamala Harris Facts:

• She was raised in Canada, not California
• She is not African-American, her mother is East-Indian and her father is Bahamian
• She started her political career by having an affair with a married man and slept her way up the ladder
• She in-imprisoned over 2000 Blacks for simple marijuana possession while she was California AG
• By her own father’s admission, she is a descendant of one of Hamilton Brown’s, one of the largest slave owners/traders in Bahamian history

   

  Can you figure out what was changed and what is accurate? If not, then consider how this is done when you have a population with little to no means of verifying the information being fed to them. This is how the enemy can utilize social media to gain supporters.

“To underestimate the enemy is foolish, and to overestimate him a mistake.”

The above example make it difficult to define the enemy and when it becomes difficult to define the enemy it become difficult to apply the appropriate measure to stop them. Those in the war cabinet have much to consider when assessing an enemy and these assessment can be categorized as:

• Political level
• Intelligence level
• Military level
• Law enforcement level
• Populace level
• Economic level
• Perception level

   

• Each one of the level requires planning and a different set of tactics so that the enemy can be neutralized avoiding a break down in society.
• In conclusion: When we see Farafin armies mobilizing troops and assets, it implies they have gone through these steps to before committing soldiers on the ground.

Source: Composite Warfare: The Conduct of Successful Ground Force Operations in Africa.