Obama, Hannibal, etc.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Is Obama a modern-day Quintus Fabius Maximus? (Brian Michael Jenkins, Los Angeles Times).

President Obama has been repeatedly accused of delay. Critics say he dragged his feet on sending more troops to Afghanistan, on addressing the dangers in Libya, on providing support to Syria's rebels and, most recently, on initiating military action against Islamic State.

But is that necessarily such a bad thing? Calculated delay has a long history as an effective military strategy, dating back at least to the Second Punic War in the 3rd century BC.

[...]

Although America is constantly compared to ancient Rome, this is the first time I can remember the comparison being to Rome during the Punic Wars.

Also, in The Mirror Tom Parry has a review of A History of the World in Numbers, by Emma Marriott, which includes this tidbit:

To launch the second Punic War (218–201BC), Carthaginian general Hannibal took an army of about 30,000 men and 37 elephants across the Pyrenees and Alps into Italy to fight the Romans.

One elephant survived – apparently named Surus, meaning “the Syrian”. Hannibal often rode it.

Carthage, on the coast of modern Tunisia, fell to the Romans in 146BC. They massacred 200,000 people and sold the remaining 50,000 as slaves.

More, recently, on the Punic Wars is here. Cross-file under "Punic Watch."