I get the distinction you are making but I have no doubt that a lot of Americans feel a sense of relief and justice that AZ died miserably. The soldiers were just doing their jobs.
Yes, many Americans assuradly do have a sense of relief and time will tell if that feeling is justified or just a false sense of security.
Not sure if it is security per se, but more a feeling of "Hoping" that the Iraqi people can take charge of their country and live in peace. They have been unfairly and unjustly ruled for 40+ years, they deserve some peace. DD
If that were the case, wouldn't we just carpet bomb all of the cities in Iraq like we did to Germany in WWII? Modern war is not a free-for-all to see how many people you can kill. The US military is a model of restrained power. If anything, the war in Iraq is proof that modern warfare for the US is exactly the opposite of what you are saying.
This is true, back in the day when you take over places like the Vikings, Alexander the Great, the Romans, you'd just rape and pillage the place. I say war has gotten more cilivized since then. We could have flattened the whole region and stole all their natural resources! damn!!
Stupid, That brings up a very big point, wars generally go on until one side is completely tired of getting hammered on and loses (ww2) or both sides get tired of the killing. The new warfare limits casualties, yes, I am sure the people that have lost relatives don't feel that way, but a few thousand in a war would be unthinkable even 30 years ago. This may actually pro long engagements, as it gives rise to insurgencies etc...if we carpet bombed Iraq for instance, they would fold very quickly, but it would be completely the wrong thing to do. So, I guess we are showing a lot of restraint, but it will probably take more time than other like wars, where one side has a significant advantage over the other. DD
The Greeks were masterful at just that. They would kill all the men and enslave all the women and children.
Sure stops insurgency pretty well doesn't it. I guess we have a more civilized war, if that is really possible. DD
It's more civilized in the sense that it's more regulated and nations have to abide by certain rules of engagement, etc. However, war today is far more dehumanizing and far more lethal than any time in history. How many people again died in WWI and WWII? As we've achieved an impressive technological advancement in the past century or so, we have seen wars become potentially far more destructive than ever before. As brutal as they might've been, the Vikings or the Crusaders never in their wildest dreams could imagine that there is one bomb that could destroy life on earth. I think the reason why we have more 'restrictions'/regulations on warfare in the modern age is directly impacted by the fact that modern warfare is far more destructive. In essence, we HAD to restrain ourselves from destroying each other, which is in itself a sad statement about humanity.
I disagree about the dehumanizing aspect of war, now the people get a voice, and their is no more pillaging and raping, and killing of everyone in the cities that are conquered. Being raped and turned into a slave is far worse than what happens today, at least the people in Iraq can have a voice, that was not true in Roman times. As for regulated, yeah, kind of, but I blame that on the media, you can't be too despicable any more without the media finding out about it and splashing it all over TV for the world to see, and I think that is a good thing. DD
The context of that comment was in relation to the justice served on AZ. My response was that our goal in this war is not to impart justice but instead to win our war and AZ is simply a tactical objective to that end. The goal of any war is to impart as much death and destruction necessary to fulfill your objective. Don't forget we basically carpet bombed AZ's house as our actions assuredly would kill anybody nearby indiscriminantly. Oh, and perhaps you remember Shock and Awe?
Hey Sishir- Not sure if you are still involved with this thread but since it has been hijacked... Have you ever heard the name Don Angier? He was my former sensei's sensei. He was mostly aiki-juijitsu but he also did aikido and judo. He was old school trained in Japan and ended up working in Hollywood with as consultant for The Incredible Hulk and other things. Anyway, I was involved with a seminar and he was demonstrating his own verson of "aiki-judo" where he was doing throws without ever touching his opponent. It was all just mental and physical trickery. I desperately wanted him to do it to me but was unable. Ever hear of him or such practices?
Sorry Rimbaud haven't heard of him but I'm not very familiar with Akijitsu. I've heard of mental techniques like what you describe but have neve studied them.
I guess that's true. We compare the quality of life given from improvements of wealth and technology. Perhaps people should define a quality of death. As morbid as that sounds, there's a lot of senseless death happening in other parts of the world. MAD is a sad statement. To me, it's more of a sobering argument that humans are neither naturally good nor evil. Coming down from MAD is a testament to our will to survive. We've realized that escalation through WMD isn't a means to an end, but rather the end.
Tiger, I believe the Planet of the Apes prophecy! when the Apes rule the Earth they can give a monkey's azz about the Palestinians and the Isrealis and Jihad and Jesus and Mohamed or Buda or Tom Cruise. APE SHALL NOT KILL APE!!
