Hi 2MAR$; Re: John Keegan's statement "Westerners fight face to face, in stand-up battle, and go on until one side or the other gives in. They choose the crudest weapons available, and use them with appalling violence, but observe what, to non-Westerners may well seem curious rules of honour. Orientals, by contrast, shrink from pitched battle, which they often deride as a sort of game, preferring ambush, surprise, treachery and deceit as the best way to overcome an enemy."
Wow, what a come down. I have so much respect for the guy, I've read all his books, but to see him write this is a shocker.
I suppose that the French Resistance was made of Frenchmen of Japanese ancestry? Or that the Chinese recruited westerners to swarm over the Yalu river and attack McArthur's forces?
As far as "face to face, in stand-up battle", the United States is using aircraft to bomb Afghan from a safe distance. Is that "face to face"? And when our ground troops kick their asses soon enough it will be by taking advantage of every tactic possible. U.S. ground forces are famous for setting up effective ambushes. Will the Taliban soldier who is shot by a sniper equipped with an infrared imaging system from 2 klicks away call that "face to face"?
Combat with knives is face to face, which is exactly how the terrorists took over those planes.
-- Carl |
