What do civilians know about war?

Question

what is it that civilains and the media know how to run war? what is it that civilians try to control war?
why do civilains want us known as a weak populace?
why do civilains want to make Iraq another Vietnam?
why does the world seek to make war weak?
why must soldiers have to get clearence from (exageration) 5 levels of command just to eliminate 100 terrorists, when we have 100% hard evidence from predators (UAV)?
Why can't we be brutal to hasten the war?

Answer 1

(1) Civilians are on the receiving end of war in one way or another, as casualties, taxpayers, the pool of manpower that volunteers and conscripts are drawn from. No one starts life from birth as a Military Man.

(2) Civilian control of the military is enshrined in modern democracies because left to their own devices, rule by the military rule equals oppression and wars started out of nothing more than boredom and hubris. Read on the Dark Ages if uncertain on this point.

(3) Iraq is increasingly becoming like Vietnam, if only because the American public doesn't have the guts to take casualties anymore, and the government and military both have become too enmeshed with corporate interests and in looking good for the media and the public to enact those structural changes which are necessary today.

(4) 100% "hard evidence" from a UAV? What a crock. We have to wade through the proper channels to do things because of incidents such as My Lai, Haditha, Mahmoudiyah. "Head in the sand" training creates bad apples. Bad incidents creates international incidents, which leads to more American flag-burning, and more people lining up to train as Jihadis and blow up Americans.

(5) Brutality doesn't "hasten" an end to war, it just deepens it. Even Mongol brutality was tempered by the need to set examples so that future resistance would be considered futile. When the Mongols debated on whether to depopulate China of its (then) 30 million people to turn it all into pastureland, even THEY shied away on the colossal scale of that idea, and settled on occupation.

And you, Questioner, are what now? Military ... or civilian?

Answer 2

Civilians are not the problem. Indeed it is the politicians that cause the majority of the problems, and they are put into office by a very fickle populace with the attention span of a gnat.

Generals make plans to carry out the directives put forward by the Government, and to achieve the goals set forward by the government.

The problem when there is clouded judgment, unclear goals, or just plain piss-poor planning on the part of the government.

We can tell there has been som bad planning and a clear lack of foresight with the goals and directives set forward in Iraq, because they have been failing.

Militarily we defeated Iraq's armed forces within about 2 weeks. We were very successful in this, and our military performed exemplary.

The problem was we were just not prepared for victory to come so quickly and so easily. We did not have the proper forces and units in place to maintain control after the disintigration of the government and police of Iraq.

In the resulting power vaccum that ensued, our Army was forced into a police role, and was forced to try to police Iraqi civilians.

Standing Armies are trained to destroy and annhilate the enemies forces, not rebuild an entire nation and police the populace, and run as the government. Our military is very good at destroying enemy forces, which is what they are intended to do.

We were ready for the war but caught unawares by the peace. LOL

When a standing army is no longer a threat and enemy insurgents melt into the populace the standard rules of engagement change rapidly. Do we bomb and destroy indiscriminantly in urban areas and kill innocent women and children and non combatants?

This is where things get hard. Additionally, remember that the USA populace has no tolerance for long drawn out affairs we like things done short and quick, and rapidly tire of things that seem tedious.

There is no easy answer here, and there is no quick fix either. Right or wrong we are involved in Iraq and our troops are there, and we need to support them, ensure they have what they need, and we owe them a debt of honer to ensure we find a way to solve the problems in a Iraq and bring them home with dignity and honor.

Answer 3

I personaly think that civilians and the media do need to stay out of the war. First of all the media discloses too much info. aboutwhat we are actually doing over there as far combat tactics and new technology that improves the defencive and offensive capabilities of our forces, which in turn, endangers our military, changes the enemies tactice and makes us have to adapt again, and again, and again. Second, war is not pretty. You really do not want to know how all of the great generals of the past have won wars. Let the fighting men and women just go over there and do what has to be done in order to keep you safe at home.

Answer 4

whilst in comparison with different wars, WW2 resulted interior the deaths of super numbers of civilians. Bombing of British, German and different cities killed hundreds of hundreds. The siege of Leningrad killed some million million , almost all have been civilian. The Nazis killed thousands and thousands of civilian Jews,Poles and Russians. the jap killed super numbers of civilian chinese language.

Answer 5

Many civilians have been in wars, before your time, they're called veterans. John McCain is one of them, and millions more.

Answer 6

Frankly, a lot of the people IN the military now don't like the president or the war. They do love their country and their military buddies though.

There are lots of veterans who are against war kid.

Not to mention civilians are paying for it, and it is their families who are fighting, oh yea, and this is a democratic republic, so everyone gets to put in their 2 cents.

Answer 7

Oh, to be a kid again and to see everything in black and white instead of the shades of gray that actually exist.

Answer 8

because America so damn worried about what the world thinks of it. if we just stepped up grab a set of balls and told the UN to go **** it self we would be able to do what needs to be done!

Answer 9

nothing. thats the point of having professional soldiers

Answer 10

the aclu, liberals and the weak hearted have no idea how violent and destructive our enemies from without actually are, and they actually actively hate America.. God will wiegh them each in His balances..