Maybe We Should Kill More of Them

boblonsberry.com ^ | 6/30/03 | Bob Lonsberry

[shortstop]

The problem is that, amazingly, these people don’t respect or fear us. They have contempt for us. They think we are spineless. And I’m not sure they’re wrong.

[MEG33]

Have you been there and done that or just frustrated?I know I wouldn't be making such a harsh judgement.

[eyespysomething]

This is what I've been saying for weeks now. We are just being too friendly. Get the job done. We can't even begin to rebuild anything until these constant hostilities end. Geesh. Give our guys some leeway to take matters into their own hands.

[Snuffington]

The problem is that, amazingly, these people don?t respect or fear us. They have contempt for us. They think we are spineless.

Victor Davis Hanson made the point, shortly after we took Baghdad, that we might have a problem because the campaign had been too successful. He said Western armies typically pacify countries they conquer by the sheer brutality of their style of war. The conquered country has no doubt they are utterly defeated.

But this war was so quick and almost painless to the Iraqis that they don't have that same sense of suffering and defeat, like the Japanese and Germans did post WW II.

[CalvaryJohn]

Well, it might feel good to say such things, but in the end, war is more complex than just killing people.

[wideawake]

We need to find and kill every Ba'ath party member - not necessarily the guy who signed up because they told him he'd lose his job working for the Bureau of Public Works unless he joined: I'm talking about the guys whose full-time job was being a Ba'ath Party functionary.

Kill all of those guys by firing squad in the streets.

[MalcolmS]

Yes, that strategy is working so well for the Russians in Chechnya </sarcasm>

It's not very Sun Tzu either.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

He may have a point. In WW II, we killed off the best part of several generations of Japanese and Germans. There were no young men left to demonstate in the street. We also totally disarmed the Japanese.

[MEG33]

Could we have a trial or just execute them if suspected?

[wideawake]

If we take the position - legitimately, given the events of recent weeks - that the Ba'ath Party are currently engaged in guerrilla war with the US then we should kill them wherever found.

They are illegal, out-of-uniform comabatants committing war crimes in violation of the Geneva Convention.

[boris]

DAMN right!

[milan]

As brutal as this may sound...we should have carpet bombed Baghdad and Tikrit. These precision munitions are great, but the honestly leave the populace without a feeling of what war is like. The Japanese haven't been a problem in over 50 years...they knew the horror of war. Without the cold brutal reality of war, we will have difficulties controlling the hardliners.

[milan]

No, it's not. We have made it more complex. That is the problem. If a terrorist knew that we would kill his family and extended family if he hit us, you don't think that would have an effect on terrorism? We only hit military targets. I say hit the hometowns of the Baath party leaders. Carpet bomb them. See how willing they are to fight after we annihilate their families.

[MEG33]

I reject that It would make us like them.

[hemogoblin]

The PC approach is frustrating, but this reads a little hysterical. The casualty numbers don't approach those of Vietnam.

You can't go wobbly after a few months.

Stay the course; watch what happens in Iran (and subsequently Iraq); let the Muslim fanatic world concentrate on something other than the U.S. mainland.

[The Louiswu]

...so said Hitler...

[MEG33]

Your CAPS are locked.

[The Louiswu]

Very well put.

[milan]

It wouldn't make us like them...you are right. This is survival. It is only a matter of time before we suffer another terrorist attack. We have to make absolutely certain that the terrorist fears us...they do not right now. We are too concerned with collateral damage etc. This mentality will lead to more loss of American life.