- Joined
- Aug 27, 2005
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- Houston, TX
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- Conservative
The video tape is horrible, but in some wars, it is difficult to tell who the enemy is and who are the civilians. And, sometimes, the enemy can be women and children, and frequently have been. While I am against mass killings, sometimes it can't be helped, when you don't know who the enemy actually is. The phrase "Kill them all, and let God sort them out" was used by Alexander Haig during the Vietnam war, but the expression has been used in almost every war ever fought, and actually goes all the way back to the Middle Ages.
It is unfortunate that civilians die in war, but it is also a fact that they do. Untold thousands of civilians died on both sides during WWII. "War is hell", so Sherman said, and he was so right. It is one good reason to only fight one as a last resort, and in Iraq, we failed to follow that advise. The result is hell on Earth for some. To question whether we should have gone into Iraq in the first place is one thing, but we are at war now, and the deed is done. As a result, civilians get killed.
Mistakes will always be made in war, and people will die. We are only human, and that applies to commanders on the ground, as well as armchair quarterbacks back here in the US. I am not going to judge anyone, based on the tapes, because I am not over there. I am here at my computer. However, that does not make these deaths any less horrible, and horrible is what they are. In the end, all you can say about war is that it is what it is.
When it is all over, I hope my fellow countrymen will pray for those unfortunates who died for nothing, as well as for our soldiers who gave their last measure over there. Do we have the capacity to remember "theirs" as well as "ours"? I believe we do, and I also believe we must. We should remember this as a stark reminder of what war really is, not fun and games, but death on a massive scale, so that we are more careful about starting one in the future.
It is unfortunate that civilians die in war, but it is also a fact that they do. Untold thousands of civilians died on both sides during WWII. "War is hell", so Sherman said, and he was so right. It is one good reason to only fight one as a last resort, and in Iraq, we failed to follow that advise. The result is hell on Earth for some. To question whether we should have gone into Iraq in the first place is one thing, but we are at war now, and the deed is done. As a result, civilians get killed.
Mistakes will always be made in war, and people will die. We are only human, and that applies to commanders on the ground, as well as armchair quarterbacks back here in the US. I am not going to judge anyone, based on the tapes, because I am not over there. I am here at my computer. However, that does not make these deaths any less horrible, and horrible is what they are. In the end, all you can say about war is that it is what it is.
When it is all over, I hope my fellow countrymen will pray for those unfortunates who died for nothing, as well as for our soldiers who gave their last measure over there. Do we have the capacity to remember "theirs" as well as "ours"? I believe we do, and I also believe we must. We should remember this as a stark reminder of what war really is, not fun and games, but death on a massive scale, so that we are more careful about starting one in the future.
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