War cannot be waged 'peacefully'

Toronto Sun ^ | 11/26/2006 | Peter Worthington

[WestNJersey]

Want to know why we (meaning the West) won't win the war on terror?

Look at Israel, arguably the toughest, least compromising of the democracies when it comes to combating terrorism. It has been fighting terrorism from the day it became a sovereign state, thanks to the UN.

Yet Israel, after failing to win the brief war with Hezbollah, is back to having to defend itself against rockets from Gaza, where Hamas rules when it isn't feuding with the Palestinian Authority.

The other day, after a rocket attack, Israel announced it was attacking the home of a suspected terrorist leader where explosives were stored. It gave the occupants 30 minutes warning to evacuate before war planes obliterated the house.

So what did the residents do? Well, not only did they not evacuate, but neighbours formed a human shield at the targeted house and, guess what?

The Israel war planes were called off. So now, every time the Israelis give the 30-minute warning which, apparently, is policy, the "human shields" of women and children head for the targeted house, secure in the knowledge that the Israelis won't attack.

This is madness -- no way to fight a war, or terrorists. And this is Israel -- the toughest democracy on the block. And yet Israel hasn't even gotten its kidnapped soldiers back from Hamas and Hezbollah, which provoked Israeli retaliation.

American, British, Canadian and NATO soldiers are even more restrained.

When the Americans had (or thought they had) insurgents in Iraq, mostly confined in Fallujah, a hotbed of enemy activity, rather than obliterate it (as they would have done in WWII) they gave a week's warning for civilians to depart before they attacked.

BAD GUYS DISPERSED

When the assault eventually went in, the bad guys were mostly gone -- dispersed to other areas to continue their slaughter of the innocent.

War cannot easily be waged peacefully. Restraints often mean prolonging the war and increasing its casualties.

Today, humane considerations are paramount. The symbol of peaceful protest is Mahatma Gandhi, the creator of passive resistance that anti-military activists like to cite as a way to thwart authority. Often overlooked, is that Gandhi's formula worked against the British. If he and his followers had lain down in front of Cossacks, the Wehrmacht or the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan, Gandhi would have become an asterisk of history rather than an icon.

A report out of Britain recalls that when American forces first went into Afghanistan, the first Taliban they caught were terrified --apparently convinced by their indoctrination that the American monsters would rip their livers out. Consequently, captives babbled like brooks and told all they knew.

Then they discovered that American soldiers feed you and generally abide by certain rules and ethics unknown to Taliban and al-Qaida.

Thereafter they shut up with no repercussions.

Remember the U.S. bombing of Baghdad prior to the 2003 invasion? Peace activists from the West pompously announced they'd be human shields around prospective targets.

Once the bombing started, these people fled -- outraged that the Americans could be so inhumane, even though none were targeted.

EX-HUMAN SHIELDS

As for Israel, if its government is nuts enough to give warnings of attacks, then it deserves what happens. The next warning should be that if human shields remain, they will quickly become ex-human shields.

One attack should be sufficient to persuade Palestinian human shields to take cover.

It's idiotic to give warning of an attack. Hezbollah and Hamas don't warn intended targets of rocket attacks and suicide bombings.

America lost the Vietnam War because it refused to do what was necessary to win -- a political decision that cost unnecessary lives on both sides, and achieved nothing.

Is that the future of Iraq? It seems so.

[WestNJersey]

The lawyers are trying to make it illegal to have a war. Plus nice guys finish last in war.

[Mr. Mojo]

This author speaks the truth that many Westerners simply don't want to hear.

[goldstategop]

This is politically correct war. The enemy only has contempt for your servility. War is to kill people and break things. A concept enlightened liberals will never understand.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

BTTT

[woodbutcher]

I agree with everything in this story except one thing.

The Israelis should announce they are going to bomb a house. Let all of the human shields collect around it. Then bomb it in such a way they kill every single one of them.

When you go fishing, you use bait.

They are not the innocent bystanders. Each and every one of them would pick up a rifle and kill a Jew or an infidel. Many of them would gladly be suicide bombers. Any one of them would plant a bomb under the road to destroy our troops.

This is not the same thing as blowing up an entire town. These are the bad guys.

[fight_truth_decay]

America lost the Vietnam War because it refused to do what was necessary to win -- a political decision that cost unnecessary lives on both sides, and achieved nothing. Is that the future of Iraq? It seems so

Hearts and minds
"There's a considerable sentiment of those who really studied Vietnam and, ideally, served there, that the approach to the war after Westmoreland left was on a new track," said retired Army Col. Stuart Herrington, another Vietnam veteran who has advised the Pentagon on Iraq policy. "It was a radical change in the approach to the war, and there's no question that even [former North Vietnamese] adversaries now admit that the second approach was extremely, extremely damaging to them."

Much like in Vietnam, the new strategy is being pushed after several years of large-scale combat operations that may have killed thousands of insurgents, but also alienated the local population.

Perhaps more troubling is that like the Abrams' initiatives, which ran from 1968 through 1973, the current move to step up training of the Iraqi forces comes at a time domestic support for war is on the wane and political winds are blowing in favor of a quick pullout of combat forces.

"There are certain things you just can't do in a military situation like Iraq or Vietnam, and if you violate these tenets, you're at great risk," said Herrington. "One of them is to take too long to figure out what you ought to be doing so the American public falters in its support."

[Alouette]

Toronto Sun published this? There is still hope for Canada.

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

[MarkL]

They are not the innocent bystanders. Each and every one of them would pick up a rifle and kill a Jew or an infidel. Many of them would gladly be suicide bombers. Any one of them would plant a bomb under the road to destroy our troops.

I've been saying the same thing for years about bombing some of those funeral/terrorist rallys that we see every now and then...

Sort of like the concept of taking out a fireant nest.

Mark

[Salem]

---

AMERICA AT WAR
At Salem the Soldier's Homepage ~
Honored member of FReeper Leapfrog's "Enemy of Islam" list.
Islam, a Religion of Peace®? Some links...  by backhoe
Translated Pre-War IRAQ Documents  by jveritas
Mohammed, The Mad Poet Quoted....  by PsyOp
"PLAES DO NOT TOCH THE WAR"  by AnnaZ
One FReeper On The Line  by SNOWFLAKE
The Clash of Ideologies - A Review

"...It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world." [FReeper Retief]

"...That the totalitarian force pitted against freedom wears a religious makes this civil war among mankind all the more difficult to engage. Loving freedom as we do, it seems reprehensible to deliberate against a religion. But this is no ordinary religion as it demands absolute obedience of all to their religion at the cost of freedom itself." [FReeper Backtothestreets]

[gcruse]

Isn't this the author of Clash of Civilizations? Worthington is correct, but not politically so. His voice will go unnoticed and we commit suicide rather than give offense.

I pity my grandchildren for the world we are passing down.

[gcruse]

Toronto Sun, as opposed to the leftist star, is a moderate to conservative tabloid newspaper.

[Young Werther]

I was giving a seminar on using the space program to encourage students to study math and science. I opened the seminar with a 12 minute film clip from the beginning of "2001 A Space Odyssey". My point? The first tool was a bone which helped to feed the tribe and win the water hole! I.E. WAR!

When the triumphant hominid wins the water hole he heaves the bone into the air and it is transformed into a space satellite.

A million years of tool making from bone implement to spaceflight suggests where our energies should be focused. I believe in O'Neills Frontier thesis and believe that this is where Bush would focus our efforts!

[Salem]

"Isn't this the author of Clash of Civilizations? ..."

Close. No.

[Mr. Mojo]

The hominid scene in 2001 is among the greatest sequences in film history. .....from the cinematography to the philosophical themes. Kubrick was pure genius.

The first tool was a bone which helped to feed the tribe and win the water hole! I.E. WAR!

Immediately after coming in contact with the alien monolith, which apparently gave the alpha male hominid in that particular tribe a jolly good idea. .....and Kubrick let the audience know the exact moment of his realization merely by playing the opening bars of Zarathustra.

[sschaloc]

Where is GEN GRANT?

[rbg81]

War cannot easily be waged peacefully. Restraints often mean prolonging the war and increasing its casualties.

Bingo. It also makes it very likely that you will lose outright.

[gusopol3]

Henry Kissinger in A World Restored

Those ages which in retrospect seem most peaceful were least in search of peace...Whenever peace-- conceived as the avoidance of war-- has been the objective of a power or a group of powers, the international system has been at the mercy of the most ruthless member of the international community."

[backtothestreets]

"War cannot easily be waged peacefully. Restraints often mean prolonging the war and increasing its casualties."

President Bush has stated the current conflict is a war of ideologies, our verses theirs. This war is being waged. But there is yet another war being waged in our midst, and unless that war is won the war of ideologies cannot be won. The second war is one of values, ours alone.

It's difficult for me to shake an accusing finger at any among us and scold them for wanting to protect lives. Remember who we are. We are the people of western nations that hold life itself in very high regard. Taking life should always be a difficult decision, and only undertaken with the greater purpose to save lives. This is a war of values. Although the war of ideologies has not come remotely close to the breadth and scope I believe we should be fighting, I am nonetheless pleased to be a member of a culture that finds itself grappling with the taking of life.

As the author stated, war cannot be waged peacefully. Attempts to wage such wars have never succeeded, are long drawn conflicts, drain treasuries, and ultimately inflict greater casualties then a quick, decisive, all-out war can achieve.

History has delivered to us the evidence of "humane" wars. The nation of my birthright, the United States of America was born from such a war. The war was not undertaken to win independence, but as deaths and casualties mounted among the colonists, the seeds of independence were planted. By the time it was concluded, 5% of the colonists had been killed.

Decades later another "humane" war erupted on our soil. For years the northern and southern states engaged one another extracting an ever-growing number of deaths and casualties. It remained simmering and extracting its cruel costs until the likes of General Sherman inflicted such devastating costs on one region that none others were prepared to suffer the same fate. The "humane" war sacrificed about 640,000 lives. Had a General Sherman been first at the dawn of war, the war may have been concluded in months and with a fraction of lives lost.

These two war show we, the people of western civilization, do indeed grapple with the issue of taking lives. It is both honorable and noble that we hold ourselves to such high standards. It is also our soft underbelly. We hesitate to strike back because doing so seems to contradict the value we assign to life.

In trying to uphold our reverence for life in the midst of war in Iraq, we have neither won the war nor preserved life. We have instead created a stew of unwanted elements that will diminish those good ingredients meant to nourish. We can be assured a greater number of people will fall ill and die from the stew we concocted then would have died from a stew made entirely of the ingredients we alone include. The stew presently being served has many people and groups adding ingredients meant to poison.

We must rise to the occasion and challenge those still firmly opposed to the taking of life as to how they can stand by idly while great numbers of people are being killed. Whatever decision they take will leave blood on their hands. If they elect to do nothing, their hands will be all the more bloody as ever greater numbers of people are butchered. Make them choose if the numbers will be great of small.

Lastly, the Iraq War should be a reminder to everyone that Saddam Hussein was not an isolated aberration within the Iraqi population, but a product of the whole population. From the onset of war, our enemy was Iraq, not a sole individual. Saddam did not create Iraq. Iraq created Saddam. Today we see Iraq trying to create another as bad as or worse than Saddam. This must not be allowed.

[Elsiejay]

And when Israelis retaliate with deadly force against a missile strike casually "aimed" into a residential/commercial non-military "target," the MSM dutifully gives us detailed reports on the non-combatant children and women killed by Israeli attackers.

[Prost1]

Yes!

I've read the book. Yellow highlighted!

And guess what? Nothing new to me. Jihadists have been around since Tamerlane (Timur the lame or Amir Timur).

And they have been evil and beset upon destroying anything that does not agree with their moment in time.