The Art of War

Is America equipped to fight adversaries that do not follow traditional rules of engagement, that are invisible, that are inherently genocidal? Is America prepared to fight adversaries who do not practice war as an art or subscribe to an evolutionary approach to battle that is inherently modern of technological?

Yes, the photo (shot and distributed by our military’s Public Affairs shows a Marine trained in martial arts. To the extent those blades evoke the relentless slicing off of heads from the Central African Republic to Northern Iraq, however, it’s that disconnect which powers pictures like this to Mother Jones’s Photo of the Day, and beyond.

(photo: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Austin Schlosser/Released. caption: SUBIC BAY, Philippines (June 27, 2014) – Philippine Marine Master Sgt. Manuel Prado, blademaster assigned to Marine Training Exercise Unit, demonstrates proper blade handling techniques to U.S. Marines assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, during Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Philippines 2014. In its 20th year, CARAT is an annual, bilateral exercise series with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the armed forces of nine partner nations including Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.)