What Dien Bien Phu Can Teach the French about ISIS and Syria
What Dien Bien Phu Can Teach the French about ISIS and Syria
Kevin L. Parker
In relation to Syria and ISIS, contemporary France can learn much from their 1954 defeat at Dien Bien Phu. At the time, the French did learn many lessons; however, the United States refused to recognize those lessons. Instead, the hubris of the United States assumed their experience would differ from the French by sheer force of will and the sentiment of “yes, but we’re not French.” Refusing to capitalize on the French lessons, the U.S. waded deeper and deeper into the Vietnam conflict with strikingly similar strategy and tactics, which resulted in an even more famous and costly defeat than Dien Bien Phu. So the larger lesson from Dien Bien Phu is to not ignore the lessons learned by others. Albert Einstein defined insanity as repeatedly trying the same thing and expecting different results. Wisdom comes from learning from your own mistakes, but it comes much easier when you can learn from the mistakes of others.
In Syria, the roles have been reversed from Dien Bien Phu. This time, it is for France to learn from the U.S. experience there. It does not take a detailed review and list of lessons to say the U.S. strategy in Syria has not been effective to-date. There are two readily apparent generalizations. First, the lack of a Syrian government capable of providing internal security is empowering ISIS. Second, air strikes against ISIS have not been sufficient to disrupt or destroy ISIS.
Having been ruthlessly attacked by ISIS on its own soil, it is more than understandable for the French people and government to want to strike back at ISIS. There is value in striking back. It shows that France will not stand for a disregard for the rule of law and sanctity of life within its borders, especially from terrorists. The immediate military response in the form of air strikes on ISIS in Syria has effectively sent this message. Accelerating air strikes on more targets risks more civilian casualties and feeding the ISIS recruiting narrative. From this point forward, France should resist the temptation to follow a strategy centered on air strikes against ISIS in Syria. Doing so would follow the U.S. strategy and tactics just as the U.S. followed the French in Vietnam.
Instead, France needs to take a long-term view while also capitalizing on the momentum of current events. In response to the Paris attacks, the Western world, especially the sympathetic post-9/11 U.S., has rallied in support of the bloodied French people and in outrage against terrorism. This creates a great window of opportunity on the world stage to create a change in Syria. Since air strikes are unlikely to produce a long-term solution, the French approach should attempt to change the structure of the situation.
For an effective long-term solution, the structural factor that must change is the lack of a Syrian government capable of providing internal security and a legitimate rule of law. The besieged Assad regime is too interested in staying in power to be a part of any effort to dull ISIS. Direct support from Russia to the Assad regime—political and military—is in large part keeping Assad in power. France should capitalize on its unfortunate moment in the spotlight to put international pressure on Russia to drop its support for Assad. Experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere show that transitional governments have great challenges in providing internal security, but in Syria the alternative is an oppressive leader willing to shell his own cities or a continued stalemate in a civil war while ISIS grows within its borders.
If Russia is serious about defeating ISIS, as it has stated, then they must support creating a stable environment within Syria as quickly as possible. Having been the target of a coordinated attack apparently planned within the terrorist incubator of Syria, France is in a unique position to point out the inconsistency in Russian policy. Now is the time for France to not just learn, but also, and more importantly to lead.
