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If you want
peace, prepare for war. ("Let him who desires peace prepare for
war," also paraphrased as si vis pacem para bellum)
De Re Militari
(Latin: "Concern Military Matters"), also Epitoma Rei Militaris, is a treaties by the late Latin writer Vegetius about Roman warfare
and military principles as a presentation of methods and practices in
use during the height of Rome's power, and responsible for that power.
The extant text dates to the 5th century. Vegetius emphasized things such as training of soldiers as a disciplined force, orderly strategy, maintenance of supply lines and logistics, quality leadership and use of tactics
and even deceit to ensure advantage over the opposition. He was
concerned about selection of good soldiers and recommended hard training
of at least four months before the soldier was accepted into the ranks.
The leader of the army (dux or duke) had to take care of the men
under his command and keep himself informed about the movements of the
enemy to gain advantage in the battle. De Re Militari became a military guide in the Middle Ages. Even after the introduction of gunpowder
to Europe, it was carried by general officers and their staffs as a
field guide to methods. Friends and subordinates customarily presented
embellished copies as suitable gifts to leaders who had everything. It
went on into the 18th and 19th centuries as a source of policy and
strategy to the major states of Europe. In that sense De Re Militari is a projection of Roman civilization into modern times and a continuation of its influence on its cultural descendants.
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Remember
that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are
not supermen.
[Speech to the Third Army (5
June 1944)]
George Smith Patton, Jr.
(November 11, 1885 - December 21, 1945) was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness. Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1909. In 1916 - 17, he participated in the unsuccessful Pancho Villa Expedition, a U.S. operation that attempted to capture the Mexican revolutionary. In World War I, he was the first officer assigned to the new United States Tank Corps and saw action in France. In World War II, he commanded corps and armies in North Africa, Sicily and the European Theater of Operations. In 1944, Patton assumed command of the U.S. Third Army, which under his leadership advanced farther, captured more enemy prisoners, and liberated more territory in less time than any other army in military history.
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The Head of Central Command, Major General Avi
Mizrachi, said in an interview with IDF Radio Tuesday that the Military
Prosecution should have asked for the death penalty for the murderers of Fogel
family in Itamar. Mizrachi noted that the Military Justice Law makes it
possible to hand down a death sentence, even though this has not been done in
the IDF's history. “The murderers "are not worthy
of being called human beings," he said, “In
this case, the right thing to do would have been to demand a death sentence.
This is not a matter of revenge."
The men convicted of murdering
the Fogel family in Itamar in March should receive the death penalty, said OC
Central Command Maj.-Gen. Avi Mizrahi in an interview with Army Radio on
Tuesday 27 September 2011 – "They [the murderers]
do not deserve to be called human beings. The event in question was worthy of
the death penalty," General Mizrahi told Army Radio.
"It was a brutal attack on an indescribable level.
I was at home on the evening of the attack and saw the shocking images,"
he added.
Aluf Avi (Abraham) Mizrahi
(born 1957) is a general in the Israel Defense Forces and the current Head of Israeli Central Command (since October 2009).
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“Terrorists who spill
blood should get the death penalty”, former
chief IDF rabbi Avichai Ronsky said Monday 17 October 2011. Speaking to
Arutz Sheva, Rabbi Ronsky suggested that if necessary, terrorist murderers
could be killed “in the field.”
“In many cases, it doesn’t need to reach a court,”
he said. “Soldiers could simply shoot to kill instead
of doing their utmost to bring terrorists in alive, “without giving the matter
too much publicity,” he explained. “It happened
in the past,” he added.
The Supreme Court has ruled that
IDF soldiers must bring terrorists in alive whenever possible, saying that to
do otherwise is illegal assassination.
“If terrorists do make it to court alive, the court
should apply the death penalty”, he said. The Biblical verse, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be
shed” applies to all of humanity, he noted.
Rabbi Avichai Rontzki
(Hebrew: אביחי רונצקי), born October 10, 1951, is the former Chief Military Rabbi of the Israel Defence Forces. He served in the position from 2006 to 2010, with a rank of Brigadier General. His predecessor in that position was Rabbi Israel Weiss. Rontzki is also the rosh yeshiva of the Hesder Yeshiva in the West Bank settlement Itamar. His four years in office have led to several controversies.
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“I
support the death penalty to some extent,” he said at a post-Cabinet press
briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. “I am not saying it must be (automatic) that once you are
found guilty of murder you ought to be hanged...I am saying that each case must
be dealt with on its merit and if it is felt that a person ought to lose his
life as well then I have absolutely no problem with that.”
“I remember one case in particular some years ago, when a young man admitted
to raping a four-year-old-child,” he
said. He recalled a conversation which he said took place between that “young
man” and a confidante.
“He is telling his friend that he raped this
four-year-old child. And he went outside, smoked a cigarette and went back in
and continued to rape that four-year-old child. That child died. And he (the
rapist) wanted to live? I don’t think so.”
Asked
if he felt that the death penalty will truly deter crime, he said, “yes.” He cited no studies or research conducted in this
country for this claim. But he added, “And I say
so because, as I am sure you will observe, when is their (killers’) time (to be
executed), they go to try all means possible to them to try to escape. No? So
if they know that their lives are so worthy and their lives are so precious I
think then that probably they will think twice before they commit some of the
heinous crimes that they are committing.”
John Sandy
- 27 May 2010: Retired Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier John Sandy, is to be sworn in today as the country’s new Minister of National Security in the Government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. It is the second time a United National Congress-led (UNC) Government has gone for a military officer to lead the Security Ministry. When Basdeo Panday became Prime Minister in 1995, he appointed former Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Joseph Theodore, as his Minister of National Security.
Theodore served for five years before he went on another retirement. During the recent election campaign, he supported Congress of the People’s (COP) Rocky Garcia for the Diego Martin West seat. This time, Persad-Bissessar has gone for Sandy, 63, who retired from the military in 2002 after 36 years in the Regiment. It is expected a junior minister also will be assigned to the Ministry of National Security to assist Sandy in handling a portfolio which comprises the Police Service, Defence Force, Prisons Service, Fire Service, and Cadet Force. The T&T Guardian was informed Persad-Bissessar, who will head the National Security Council, wants an action crime plan from her new minister.
Sandy, it was disclosed, would need to find a way to deal with the increase in murders which already has crossed the 200 mark for 2010. The T&T Guardian also learned the new Government must decide on the future of the Special Anti-Crime Unit of T&T (Sautt), a unit which has been operating independent of the Police Service and Defence Force. On many occasions, crime scene experts from both the Police Service and Sautt turned up to investigate the same incident. Sandy has had a distinguished career in the Defence Force, serving as Chief of Defence Staff between 2001 and 2002. On November 7, 2002, he was one of six persons who received the General Service Medal from then President, Arthur NR Robinson. The others were Captain Anthony Franklin, Brigadier Carl Alfonso, Major General Ralph Brown, Brigadier Joseph Theodore and Rear Admiral Richard Kelshall.
They received medals for the roles they played in quelling the 1990 attempted coup in which the Jamaat al Muslimeen threatened to overthrow the democratically-elected Government of the then Prime Minister ANR Robinson. Apart from being a military officer for 36 years, Sandy has been involved in football and cricket. He has been the chief security officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF). He was also a member of the disciplinary committee of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB).
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