At the Naval War College it was metallurgy and nuclear reactors, not 19th-century philosophy.
I think, sir, that what he was actually trying to say was a little more -
Complicated?
[Men laughing]
Yes the purpose of war is to serve a political end but the true nature of war is to serve itself.
[Laughing]
I'm very impressed. In other words, the sailor most likely to win the war is the one most willing to part company with the politicians and ignore everything except the destruction of the enemy. You'd agree with that.
I'd agree that, um, that's what Clausewitz was trying to say.
But you wouldn't agree with it?
No, sir, I do not. No, I just think that in the nuclear world the true enemy can't be destroyed.
[Chuckling, tapping glass]
Attention on deck. Von Clausewitz will now tell us exactly who the real enemy is.
