The Tragedy of War

You call on people to do insuperable things and tie them up in impossible legal niceties, then you get this...



War should only be used as a last ditch option and when you go to war, you go to war, i.e. you militarize the whole society. All civilians should be put on a war footing and "fun and games" ended until the war is over. Like Sherman said, you have to make "war is hell" a reality for your enemies, but I'm saying you have to make "was is hell" for your citizens to ensure that they only go to war as a very, very last ditch option. Sadly, the Americans have fallen in love with war and their soldiers. This has created the moral abomination of the above video. I don't blame the soldiers. I blame the civilian leadership and the military leadership for putting people into an impossible situation.

If Saddam Hussein was the big bugaboo that Bush claimed to have been, then citizens should have been willing to see their taxes go up 20%, that all entertainment (movies, parks, bars, etc.) be shut down "for the duration". They should be willing to see a "levée en masse" that makes sure that politicians kids and Wall Street tycoon kids get swept up in the war effort. I guarantee you, Iraq wouldn't have happened.

But I'm convinced that the American people would have signed up for the first 4 months of the fight in Afghanistan. That made sense. The US was attacked and they had to strike back to discourage any further adventurism by al Qaeda was stopped.

The US wouldn't have decided that Vietnam was a "strategic domino" if the above standard had been met.

OK... I have to admit that the above makes it sound like it is all cut-and-dried, simple rules, the problem is "fixable", etc. It isn't. I'm just trying to make the point that war is horrible and people who decide to go to war have to make very, very sure that it is realy and truly necessary.