The Importance Of Military Intelligence

Poul Anderson's Ensign Flandry demonstrates the necessity of accurate, realistic military intelligence.

Lord Hauksberg:

"'[The Merseians]'re rational bein's too, y'know.'"
-Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), p. 8.

"...rational..." is fatally ambiguous. Of course the Merseians have the ability to reason - they are a linguistic species - but it does not follow from this that they are "rational," in any other sense implied by Hauksberg, wanting to avoid conflict etc. Later, he tells Abrams:

"'If we can discover who the reasonable elements are in their government, we can cooperate with those - most discreetly - to freeze the warhawks out.'" (p. 84)

Hauksberg's first responsibility is to find out what the Merseian government is really like, not to make in advance the anthropomorphic assumption that it divides into reasonable elements and warhawks. Abrams replies that all the Merseians are reasonable but "'...they don't reason on the same basis as us.'" (ibid.)

This is almost certainly true to some extent since they are in fact alien. Hauksberg then calls Abrams unreasonable and paranoid. Real life Abrams-types can be unreasonable and even paranoid but it remains necessary to heed and respond to what they say, not just to dismiss it in advance, especially if they can back it up with any relevant experience or evidence.

On p. 8 (see above), Hauksberg continues, "'S'pose many of 'em're lookin' for some way out...'"

Many? Why suppose this? There are three possibilities: many are looking for a way out; some are; none are.

Speaking to Runei the Wanderer, the greenskin cinc, Hauksberg privately assumes that the latter is honest and wants to wind up the affair before it gets out of hand because the only alternative is to prepare for war. But what are the facts? Maybe Runei is dishonest? Maybe he and his superiors want to escalate the conflict? In which case, to assume the opposite is disastrously irresponsible.

Flandry discovers that the Merseians had carefully engineered the conflict on Starkad so that the Terran fleet would mass in the Saxonian system and would then be destroyed when Saxo was hit by a rogue planet, thus leaving Terra defenseless. Hauksberg convinces himself that the Merseians would have warned the Terrans of the approaching rogue "'[i]f we'd shown a genuine desire to cooperate...'" (p. 188) But not otherwise? Does he think that the Merseians were sincere in their support for the sea people? But, in that case, the Merseains would have started to evacuate Starkadians as soon as they had learned of the rogue. It is difficult to understand how Hauksberg rationalizes this position. The man seems to be incapable of learning anything.

Flandry asks Hauksberg whether he has read any history, listened to any Merseian speeches, read any Merseian books, seen the Terran dead and wounded. Human history is relevant although allowances must be made for differences among aliens. Merseian speeches and books are directly relevant. The wounded and the dead are an emotive argument because they exist on both sides in any conflict and do not in themselves account for the causes of the conflict.