In the headlines the last couple of days: "Mail bomb in Dubai sent on 2 passenger planes" and "Suicide bomber wounds 22 in Istanbul's main square". Similar plots threatened against France, Britain, the United States, etc, daily on websites and Islamic television. Why do we seem to be losing (innocent people) on both sides? Because the people we are fighting are attacking the innocent, and hiding amongst the innocent, counting on our sense of morality and the media to protect them.
The media around the world (and sometimes our own) portrays us as the "big dumb bullies" that get our way, regardless of the fact that we are the first to be called upon for help and defense when the need arises, at our own expense (human lives and financially). I can understand based on our recent presidential and political choices (elected and nominated: W, Palin, Obama) who are in the media spotlight do not help us defend the "dumb" label easily, but the bully part of it I just get annoyed hearing repeatedly. We are always damned if we do, and damned if we don't.
We are being fought against the same way we fought against the British in the revolution. They lined up and fought conventionally; we attacked them from the woods, on all sides, from all angles. The difference is we fought on our own land, we knew the terrain and the British brought mostly soldiers not civilians. In the new world landscape we have the disadvantage the British had; terrorists hide amongst the civilians and are more familiar with the terrain, only they have no remorse and a lack of respect for the human lives they put at risk when they hide amongst their own people. They believe the lives of the innocent are worth sacrificing, as well as their own (unless you are a terrorist leader, they seem to follow the "Do as I say, not as I do" approach to suicide bombing). They also come here to attack our innocent, but that is all right, they are allowed, they do not have to fight with rules, only we have to follow the rules.
If we were going to fight any of these wars we committed to in Afghanistan and Iraq and expect any remotely successful result, it would make sense to either fight like the over sized "big bully" we are, or fight the way we are being fought against. Both sound simple, why complicate the situation? Either way we look bad in the media, including the way we have participated up until now.
Fighting as an over sized bully: "Surrender and walk away from all civilians and innocents, you have 3 days to comply before we level the area." Start with the last known and most probable locations of terrorists. After the first city is annihilated, wait for the response. If the response is not favorable, wipe out the next largest city. During World War II, this took two cities before surrender, and I am not saying use nuclear weapons, the regular ones will do the job. I am not saying it was the right thing to do, but could be proof we should be taken at our word. Threaten us, and we will turn your cities and countries into large parking lots.
Fighting the terrorist way: We have departments that do covert operations, and I am not a conspiracy theorist or a militia nutcase, but our own armed forces have people trained to do what terrorists do against us. Let us use them, and use them effectively. Enough with the sacrifice of our soldiers at the expense of "doing what is right" in the eyes of the media, or the world. If we or any other people wanted to do the right thing, we would not be at war at all.
Why do we make a big production and a media friendly name like "Operation Desert Storm" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom"? If we weren't trying so hard to sell our reasons for war, or blatantly hide the fact that it is for a boost in military spending, we might not be looked upon as big dumb bullies. We actually were (are) trying to either defend ourselves, or help others, but politicians make it an expense and excuse to make money. How about "no name, just pain". Pain for our lost soldiers, pain for their families, and pain for some of us reading and watching, knowing there is a better way, or a safer way, but that is not the political way.
The Big FU goes to our politicians, and the media around the world, including our own. They all seem to put us in harms way, all while claiming to be protecting us, and giving us the "real story". We, the general public, will never have the real story with its layers of lies, media spin, and orders for more goods and services through companies with a vested interest in delaying peace.
See you hopefully next week, sorry for the skipped week.
You must be sick of me saying it... but another good one. Though it is a hard thing to say- "flatten their cities." It is a moral dilemma. However, it is apparently not one our "enemies" seem to be facing. In fact we seem to be the only ones facing it and deciding consistently to live by it. Yet, we ARE the first ones to come to the financial and material aid of others after natural disasters- and yet still we are criticized as the bullies or that we didn't give enough or weren't fast enough to help. Yet we ourselves are now struggling and still hands are stretched out for a hand-out not a hand-up. Ugh, it is depressing.
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