Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (52993)	9/24/2001 12:53:07 PM
From: Jerome	Respond to of 70976

Sam...>>>? Can you point to any historical precedent of success in waging such protracted struggle? <<< Try Viet Nam for openers. They maintained since 1940 that the only thing that changed was the face of the enemy. Jerome

To: Sam Citron who wrote (52993)	9/24/2001 7:45:43 PM
From: mitch-c	Respond to of 70976

OT - costs of warfare Actually, yes. The French were able to suppress an insurgency in Morocco in the 50's - but with a degree of ruthlessness that - after the fact - became unacceptable to the French population, not to mention world opinion. Symmetric warfare (your term) is fought between openly declared soldiers. The status of a combatant or a non-combatant is clearly defined and signaled (uniforms, ID cards and tags, etc.). The behavior towards each is clearly defined by the Laws of War; the Hague and Geneva Conventions serve as the basis of international law. Under those legal precedents, the WTC attack was a war crime - an attack on a civilian target with no military value. The Pentagon attack may NOT have fit that definition, since it WAS a military target ... except for the METHOD employed, which killed noncombatant passengers and crew of a civilian aircraft. The fact that the hijackers deliberately hid their status as combatants also exempts them from the protections afforded to combatants (POW status and treatment). Instead, they and their conspirators may be (in my opinion) considered in the same category of spies and saboteurs. However, (getting back to the point) the very trait which allows us to punish them as war criminals also makes them harder to find and suppress. The longterm costs of such suppression are those we may have seen during the Vietnam period - not so much monetary but more like erosion of civil liberties, blurred distinctions among government agencies, a constant trickle of casualties and atrocities, protests, riots, and so forth - in short, a test of the national willpower to fight a shadowed opponent. This will NOT have the kind of definite closure we expect from a movie. On the flip side, this ain't Vietnam. Anyone who doubts that need only be reminded to "Remember Manhattan!" While the overt patriotism we've seen may fade from public view, I think it will endure more robustly than in several generations. We're showing the serious determination necessary to see this through. - Mitch@armchairstrategy.mil