"We first need to (re)figure out HOW to fight wars. Today's wars are much more Vietnam-like than WWII-like, given the state of convention weapons."
It might be true that battle fields seem Vietnam-like but the nature of our enemy is far different than any in the past. For starters we have done a very poor job of declaring the parameters of friend and foe. Like in past wars we have utilized a lot of bandwidth identifying large groups by their nationality, their creed, religion, or ethnicity. The fact is, our enemy is one of loyalty to fanatical extremism that cuts across national boundaries and social identifiers. The people on the Death Cult thread, for example, exemplify the rhetoric coming from the very essence of extremism, which Bush declared war on; yet many of them would claim to be his most devout and loyal supporters. The approach is so haphazard and tumultuous that decent people are beginning to wonder if Peter Pan has become a Pirate, vice versa, or if it even matters. A return to sound principle is called for with as much attention payed to self-regulation as attempts to deal with outside threats.
The enemy is more like weeds spreading throughout a garden planet than one demographic that can be classified by the usual political descriptors.
When I was young I had a summer gardening job. The master gardener talked to me about weed control once. He said that when you have a weed problem, you can spray them but they will come back. You can pull them up but they will repopulate. He listed a number of other techniques to remove weeds but kept the drum beat on how they would come right back. He told me that attempting to wipe them all out using round up or something, may appear like an accomplishment in the short term, but in the long run it is a futile waste of effort and contributes more long term harm than benefit.
Then he told me that if you want to have grass instead of broad leaf weeds you must prepare your soil and nutrient balance to represent the conditions under which grass naturally thrives. If you want broadleaf herbs, flowers or what ever you must create conditions that are amenable to their healthy growth. Then any attempts weeds make to get a foot hold will be choked off by health of the desired plants.
So the questions we should all be asking are what do we want to thrive in the world, what conditions would promote such a system, and what can we do to support those conditions.
The enemy see them selves as a remedy, we see them as weeds. How can that be? This disparate view would be a good place to begin our search for answers. |
