[ale] [OT] Liberties

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi Jim,

We could obviously banter about politics forever.  Probably never see 
eye to eye.  I did want to post a reply to the statements quoted below 
however.

War is, by definition, a hideous, disgusting, horrifying, ugly 
business.  It is to be avoided if at all possible.  However, evil 
conquering people and regimes occasionally force good people into war.

IF you HAVE to go to war, lets be real, the Military's job is primarily 
to kill people and break things.  That's why we have them.  That's why 
we pay them.  If you have to kill people and break things, you want to 
do that as efficiently as possible, as quickly as possible, and get out 
with minimal casualties to yourself and your allies.  You want to remove 
your enemy's ability and will to make further war.  There are rules, 
even in war, which is why we have the Geneva convention, etc.

In regards to dropping a 10 story building from 5 miles away, etc., when 
we HAVE to go to war, and if you're sure you have to take out that 
building, then that's a far better way to do it than to have our troops 
and allies in there getting killed.

When we have to go to war, I'm VERY glad that we usually have superior 
equipment and training to the enemy.  I am never proud of war itself, 
but I am proud that our soldiers can, when they have to, make war 
effectively and kick ass and get out.

According to Wikipedia, the dropping of the atomic bombs killed 200,000 
people, mostly civilians.  That is, without a doubt, terrible.  However, 
those actions helped bring a much quicker end to WW II, put an end to 
the evil conquering regimes of Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini - which 
might very well have enslaved us and / or our allies had they continued, 
and, very likely saved millions of lives had the war continued or had we 
actually lost the war.

Also according to Wikipedia, the allies suffered deaths of 61 million in 
the war.  Dropping the atomic bombs likely kept that number from going 
much higher, likely far more than 200,000 higher.

Was killing 200,000 people terrible?  Yes.  Was it preferable to the 
likely alternatives?  Yes.

In regard to killing civilians, since we now have the means of being 
more selective in our attacks, we try to avoid killing "non combatants" 
where possible.  However, the civilians are recruited (or required) to 
become combatants though, so even that's not so simple.

I will say this.  In the modern world, where all major players have 
nukes, and H bombs, and were a full scale escalation could make large 
parts of the planet uninhabitable, that scenario is very much to be 
avoided.  But, the evil conquering enslaving regimes are still there.  
Their names are different.  Their locations may be different.  But their 
desire to enslave or destroy anyone else they can has never changed, and 
it never will.  We have to be prepared to face and repel these threats, 
or all those people that have ever died to gain and preserve our 
freedoms will have died in vain.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick ..." - Teddy Roosevelt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_roosevelt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_convention

PS  I'm not a history expert nor a history buff, and all this was before 
my time.  Google is your friend and Wikipedia is usually your friend.

Sincerely,

Ron


-snip-

On 8/22/2013 12:50 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> No carry-able number of fully automatic weapons will match up against 
> Apache attack helicopters with rockets, tanks with the ability to drop 
> a 10 story building at 5 miles and the nuclear weapon trump card is 
> _still_ held by the only government to ever use nuclear weapons 
> against a civilian population.

-snip-


-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU