Larissa
27th March 2003, 23:41
On Tuesday, President Bush said, "We're fighting an enemy that knows no rules of law, that will wear civilian (clothes), that is willing to kill."
"But we're fighting with bravery and courage." The other day, an anchorman on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel enjoined America to "Stay brave, stay
alert, and stay with Fox." Newsmax.com, a U.S. news outlet, told of Iraqis cowardice: " 'Cowards,' muttered a forward air controller attached to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, one of the first units to enter southern Iraq from the Kuwaiti desert after a six-week wait. 'I should have shot him,' said a corporal, describing how an Iraqi soldier in a trench brought up his rifle then dropped it at the last minute." One of his American comrades was later praised by Bravo Company for a "confirmed kill."
Let us ponder these words. Bravery, courage, cowardice. The United States has invaded a bankrupt country ruled, as everyone knows, by a dictator. A
country that has been ravaged by war, incompetent government, and 13 years of brutal sanctions. A country where, according to UNICEF, one in four children is malnourished because of the sanctions and where, according to the U.N.'s World Food Program, 16 million people depend on food handouts to survive - or did until the U.S. bombs started falling. A country that poses
no military threat whatever to the United States and no longer a serious one to its neighbors. The United States has invaded Iraq with the biggest arsenal in human history at its disposal. The United States has complete air supremacy over Iraq. B-1 Bomber Lancers drop bombs unhindered on effectively defenseless cities and troops. So do B-52 Heavy Bombers, B-2 Stealth Bombers, A-10 Thunderbolts, falcons, tomcats, hornets, and many other aircraft with beautiful names. The USS George Washington fires Tomahawk cruise missiles from a distance of up to 1000 miles. Carrier-based F-18
Hornets fire SLAMs, Stand Alone Attack Missiles, at $720,000 a pop, from a distance that keeps our brave pilots "out of harm's way." The USS Normandy, the USS Bunker Hill, the USS Carney, and many other ships also deliver an ostentation of missiles. Yet it is the soldiers beneath who are the cowards.
According to U.S. Central Command yesterday hundreds of Iraqi soldiers were "taken out" by brave pilots.
Oddly enough, the cowards are fighting back. We had been told that the Iraqis would surrender in droves as soon at the invasion - sorry, liberation - began. Yet Iraqi troops are putting up stiff resistance in Nassiriya, in Umm Qasr, in Najaf, and wherever they are attacked. Given the might of the American arsenal, I pray they will surrender soon, before tens of thousands are killed. To everyone's surprise, except perhaps to their own, the Iraqis are acquitting themselves with courage and defiance.
Yesterday, U.S. newspapers began to speak of Iraqi bravado. But courage will only get you so far these days. Today, courage in war is never wise; it is always foolish. Mao Zedong, who was right about one thing, said "Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale." Mao was right in 1938.
Today, his dictum is wrong. Under Pax Americana the decisive factor in war is technological and economic hegemony. In 380 B.C., Laches told Socrates, "I should say that courage is a sort of endurance of the soul..." To which Socrates replied, "And you would say that a wise endurance is also good and noble... But what
would you say of a foolish endurance? Is not that, on the other hand, evil and hurtful?" Given the foolish endurance of the Iraqis, to win this war Messrs. Bush and Rumsfeld will have to order them killed by tens of
thousands. The Iraqis endurance is foolish and hurtful. But it is human.
And what of _moral_ cowardice? This morning the BBC's Paul Wood reported that according to U.S. Central Command the scenes of grief at the Baghdad market that was hit by a missile yesterday were staged by the Iraqi authorities. Fifteen Iraqi citizens were killed and many more injured by a U.S. missile. According to the BBC, Central Command had earlier acknowledged that it had targeted military objectives within residential neighborhoods. It has also been suggested that pictures of dead civilians and weeping survivors are a provocation. What gall: to get yourself killed in front of
journalists. No doubt this man in Basra is a coward:
http://www.oshea.dk/smartbomb.htm and the officer and gentleman who pushed the button a hero.
Paul
"But we're fighting with bravery and courage." The other day, an anchorman on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel enjoined America to "Stay brave, stay
alert, and stay with Fox." Newsmax.com, a U.S. news outlet, told of Iraqis cowardice: " 'Cowards,' muttered a forward air controller attached to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, one of the first units to enter southern Iraq from the Kuwaiti desert after a six-week wait. 'I should have shot him,' said a corporal, describing how an Iraqi soldier in a trench brought up his rifle then dropped it at the last minute." One of his American comrades was later praised by Bravo Company for a "confirmed kill."
Let us ponder these words. Bravery, courage, cowardice. The United States has invaded a bankrupt country ruled, as everyone knows, by a dictator. A
country that has been ravaged by war, incompetent government, and 13 years of brutal sanctions. A country where, according to UNICEF, one in four children is malnourished because of the sanctions and where, according to the U.N.'s World Food Program, 16 million people depend on food handouts to survive - or did until the U.S. bombs started falling. A country that poses
no military threat whatever to the United States and no longer a serious one to its neighbors. The United States has invaded Iraq with the biggest arsenal in human history at its disposal. The United States has complete air supremacy over Iraq. B-1 Bomber Lancers drop bombs unhindered on effectively defenseless cities and troops. So do B-52 Heavy Bombers, B-2 Stealth Bombers, A-10 Thunderbolts, falcons, tomcats, hornets, and many other aircraft with beautiful names. The USS George Washington fires Tomahawk cruise missiles from a distance of up to 1000 miles. Carrier-based F-18
Hornets fire SLAMs, Stand Alone Attack Missiles, at $720,000 a pop, from a distance that keeps our brave pilots "out of harm's way." The USS Normandy, the USS Bunker Hill, the USS Carney, and many other ships also deliver an ostentation of missiles. Yet it is the soldiers beneath who are the cowards.
According to U.S. Central Command yesterday hundreds of Iraqi soldiers were "taken out" by brave pilots.
Oddly enough, the cowards are fighting back. We had been told that the Iraqis would surrender in droves as soon at the invasion - sorry, liberation - began. Yet Iraqi troops are putting up stiff resistance in Nassiriya, in Umm Qasr, in Najaf, and wherever they are attacked. Given the might of the American arsenal, I pray they will surrender soon, before tens of thousands are killed. To everyone's surprise, except perhaps to their own, the Iraqis are acquitting themselves with courage and defiance.
Yesterday, U.S. newspapers began to speak of Iraqi bravado. But courage will only get you so far these days. Today, courage in war is never wise; it is always foolish. Mao Zedong, who was right about one thing, said "Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale." Mao was right in 1938.
Today, his dictum is wrong. Under Pax Americana the decisive factor in war is technological and economic hegemony. In 380 B.C., Laches told Socrates, "I should say that courage is a sort of endurance of the soul..." To which Socrates replied, "And you would say that a wise endurance is also good and noble... But what
would you say of a foolish endurance? Is not that, on the other hand, evil and hurtful?" Given the foolish endurance of the Iraqis, to win this war Messrs. Bush and Rumsfeld will have to order them killed by tens of
thousands. The Iraqis endurance is foolish and hurtful. But it is human.
And what of _moral_ cowardice? This morning the BBC's Paul Wood reported that according to U.S. Central Command the scenes of grief at the Baghdad market that was hit by a missile yesterday were staged by the Iraqi authorities. Fifteen Iraqi citizens were killed and many more injured by a U.S. missile. According to the BBC, Central Command had earlier acknowledged that it had targeted military objectives within residential neighborhoods. It has also been suggested that pictures of dead civilians and weeping survivors are a provocation. What gall: to get yourself killed in front of
journalists. No doubt this man in Basra is a coward:
http://www.oshea.dk/smartbomb.htm and the officer and gentleman who pushed the button a hero.
Paul