The lesson the war supporters have learned from all of this is that the Rules Of Engagement suck ....Readers may recall that Newshoggers backed "the resistance" in Iraq, and literally cheered al Qaeda's use of mentally-impaired female suicide bombers as a "brilliant" strategic adaptation against American forces.
For the few who still remember Vietnam this should sound very familiar. Once you got out of the major cities in Vietnam the war wasn't about communism VS western capitalism it was about occupation by foreign troops. They supported the Viet Cong because they saw them as freedom fighters.
The lesson should be that we are in another quagmire - fighting another war that can't be won without killing most of the population.
See also, The Western Experience, "Heads Should Roll Over Four Marines’ Death."
4 comments:
I don't agree with Ron Beasley's argument, but there's no applause for the death of anyone in what he wrote in that post. He's instead saying these deaths wouldn't've occurred, had those troops not been there. Others (primarily milbloggers, who're very "pro-troop," & more'n'likely conservative, taboot) are saying these deaths were the result of the Rules Of Engagement, and had they been different, these men wouldn't've died, either.
In both cases, the folks writing the posts are not applauding the deaths, but are discussing them with an eye toward preventing ones like them in future.
A few of the milblogs indirectly cited via memorandum were making a comparison to Vietnam very similar to the one the writer from NewsHoggers did, as well. (And at least one suggests the new ROE are a military issue, not a political one, and urges folks not to jump to any conclusions without knowing more of the facts.)
I know you have to make these daily attacks on those who don't share your politics, but mischaracterizing their words and deeds won't get you anything more than the continued adoration of the same old "me, too" crowd that applauds everything you write.
As I said at the outset, though, I don't share Ron's so-called "nihilist" (-doesn't agree with Don's) opinion. The draw down in Iraq should feed a build-up in Afghanistan, giving us more of a chance to succeed there.
Thank you repsac3, as a Vietnam veteran I would certainly never applaud the death of US soldiers and think the best way to keep them safe is to keep them out of places they should not be.
rep(ulsive)sac3
"...but there's no applause for the death of anyone..."
You mean like the nearly 50 million unborn children in America that never saw the light of day, due to the fact that their mere existence was going to be inconvenient to the two people who (almost) brought them into this world?
-Dave
Well no, Dave, the post has nothing to do with abortion, but even so, there's no applause for the deaths of the unborn here, at newshoggers, or at those milblogs, either.
Thanks for allowing me to reply to your completely irrelevant point, and I hope you enjoyed being able to make up a silly name for a person with whom you disagree politically. It must've really made your day...
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