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To: dyed_in_the_wool
His writing is, well maybe pacifist isn't the right word, but he's EXTREMELY cautious about sending troops (as a concerned former leader of them.)

I can respect that feeling, but I can also see how it can easily lead to an overappreciation of the sacrifices of the men on the field, and an underappreciation of the necessity for those sacrifices.

In other words, they can become too concerned for soldiers' safety to remember that their job is to protect the safety of civilians or the country at large.

Yeah, war is an ugly thing. So is a country losing far more because it's too timid to go to war when necessary.

Some policemen come to think that the welfare of their fellow officers is more important than the welfare of the community they were hired to serve. So do some soldiers.

69 posted on 09/24/2002 3:22:39 PM PDT by Dan Day
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To: Dan Day; PsyOp
I just discovered that another Freeper (PsyOp) has located a quote which puts it far more succinctly than I:
"The fact that slaughter is a horrifying spectacle must make us take war more seriously, but not provide an excuse for gradually blunting our swords in the name of humanity. Sooner or later someone will come along with a sharp sword and hack off our arms." - Karl von Clauswitz, On War, 1832.
And Freeper "moneyrunner" made the same point I made in my other post, but in a single sentence: "A brave soldier is not necessarily a good strategist."
71 posted on 09/24/2002 3:35:27 PM PDT by Dan Day
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