Dumbledore the General

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 124195



> Tonks:
> The most successful in fighting LV, Harry?! Are you forgetting all 
> the times that he would have been killed if DD had not arrived on 
> the scene??  

Dumbledore was quite helpful in that graveyard. Oh, wait...

You are right. Dumbledore has helped a lot on a personal level 
because of his level of magical strength. I am speaking on a large 
strategic level. The chessboard if you will. And Dumbledore is losing 
that battle because because he is playing a reactive war. He's 
letting Voldemort make the first move. Being on a defensive footing 
is a bad way to fight because it means you can never apply pressure 
to your opponent.

Tonks:
>Harry will be the weapon. DD is the general and a good  one. DD is 
>the one the LV *fears* not Harry Potter. 

First of all, Voldemort clearly does fear Harry because he attempted 
to kill the lad while he was still in nappies. Thats a sign of fear 
if there ever was one.

Secondly Voldemort does fear DD personal ability but Albus has so far 
proven he's a fairly bad strategist. Remember, Voldemort was 
*winning* the last war.  The Potters were running scared. The 
longbottoms were running scared.  Dumbledore's organization was 
compromised by at least one spy.  The entire population was terrified 
to leave their homes.  And that was all underneath the auspices of 
the Order of the Phoenix beneath DD leadership.  Voldemort came 
within a scar's breath of total victory.

I can think of a number of things right off the top of my head that a 
private group working outside the auspices of the ministry could do.

1. Potion Master working for enemy--Poison Voldemort. He may not be 
able to die but he could have some wicked cramps while Harry kicks 
his behind. Alternately, poison his followers, lethally or not to 
remove his support.

2. Metamorphmagus--Frame some of the more open death eaters for 
crimes in order to tarnish their good name and remove any credibility 
they might have. infiltrate the junior death eaters at school by 
posing as a student--perhaps turn one or more of the students against 
their parents or merely learn hom much of the infestation has taken 
root at hogwarts. Probably other idea's I can't think of at midnight. 
seems like an amazingly useful ability.

3. The Media. Get out Harry's Story! Don't let the Ministry have all 
the airspace to get out their version of the truth. Own the people 
and you will have half the battle won. Fight the daily prophet on 
their own ground. Fight Fudge in the media and get someone competent 
like Madam Bones to run the show.  

4. Giant animagus dog.  Potential tracker and spy. Trail Lucius to DE 
meetings and maybe learn where Voldemort is holding up at for a raid 
at a later time. Possible trainer for other potential animagi in the 
order.

5. Use outside the system nature of the OOTP to raise hell with the 
DE who like to work within the system. Raid their homes. Use 
psychological warfare to undermine their morale. Hell, kidnap them 
for interrogation purposes-see 6. for more details.

6. Use the lovely Fleur and her charm or perhaps the more intense 
charms of her full blooded relatives to turn the male death eaters 
into putty. You can't tell that five minutes with a beautiful veela 
isn't going to have them singing all they know. And look, no morally 
objectionable torture. Neat :)

7.  Use the prophecy for your own purposes! The most important thing 
of all. Voldemort was lying low the whole year and plotting to get 
his hands on it. Why not let information slip about the prophecy 
being transported to a more secure location as the bait for a trap. 
Force Voldemort into acting openly and most likely lose a few 
servants.

8. Use cool banker Weasley to cut off the wealth of Death Eaters if 
possible through banking red tape.

9. Train Harry. Get him out of his grief by putting him through an 
exhausting magical boot camp along side his friends and start 
preparing him for what is going to come.

10. Start laying the ground work for all of the above *early*. DD 
knows that Voldemort is going to be back so he should have been 
plotting for the past decade and a half. Right now it looks like he's 
been flying by the seat of his pants.

Is Dumbledore doing any of these things? No. Are they good ideas that 
would work? I think so.  Thus my contention that he is a bad 
strategist. I thought of these things in about five minutes. He's had 
fifteen years.     

Tonks:
>DD does not return evil for evil, and Harry will not either. There 
>is a far greater power that we have not yet seen in all its glory.


It's not evil to bring guns to a gun fight. It's not evil to fight 
with intelligence, using feints, misdirection, and the power of your 
public persona.  Its not evil to realize that hearts, flowers, and 
the song Imagine aren't going to save you from psychotic wizards bent 
on world domination and the purification of their race. because this 
is a fight between two guerilla groups it is actually easier to win 
than if DD was running the ministry

JK is not writing a military story but she is writing a story about a 
war. I don't think that its too much to ask that her lightside leader 
acts like he's actually been in one before.

All this is of course my opinion

phoenixgod200, who has read the art of war about a thousand times, 
and learns something new each time.