Karen, At 09:29 03/02/03 -0800, you wrote: <<<< Keith, as long as US soldiers believe that they are protecting the homeland, kith and kin, there is no question of courage. >>>>
I agree. Before reading your post, I've just made the same point in my reply to Ray. (KWC) <<<< Ray is right to point out the difference the volunteer army makes here, that most are True Believers. There will always be notable exceptions, like the morons who join so they can kill somebody, anybody, and those who are there simply for the GI Bill. However, the preponderance of men and women in uniform today are gung ho, a military fraternity of like minds, highly trained and loyal. >>>> I would say this, based on the problems that the British Army has in recruiting soldiers: They don't have many problems recruiting officers because the Army offers lavish perks and retirement benefits for officers. But there are great problems recruiting enough good men in the ranks. In fact, it is so bad that men are now recruited from prison and even from the homeless who beg and sleep in the streets. I was probably interpreting the American experience in the same way. There's a lot of poor grade material entering the army these days. (KWC) <<<< However, calculating the huge collateral damage in urban guerrilla warfare should be the right reason for the generals and anyone else to have second thoughts about a prolonged military exercise. To not have cold feet on that issue would be foolish and excessively poor leadership. To proceed with that risk assessment one must have a clear, irrefutable imminent threat. So if the CIA and the Pentagon are continuing their disagreement, it shows a healthy checks and balances, not lack of courage. If the people are convinced, even if the evidence is manufactured or exaggerated, if people are convinced of the danger and of the certainty of the mission, then doubters should remember what the Japanese learned from awakening the sleeping tiger. God help us if the same occurs now with all our new toys and skills, our situational ethics and the 'ends justifies the means' foreign policy. But for the life of me I don't see how Bush is going to conduct a proxy war to remove Hussein should the risk managers overcome the chickenhawks. Would it really be possible for there to be a Prime Time Sweeps Week war for television consumption and not face the aftermath of incriminating evidence spread by the internet and independent satellites? >>>> Whoops! You've totally lost me in the last paragraph! (KWC) <<<< I would think that an American public, especially the baby boomers and older vets, much less an already skeptical European one, having had devastating nationalistic wars in their neighborhoods, would be suspicious of a Grenada-style invasion to pump up morale and flex our military muscles. Americans are weary from economic loss and anxiety, still in shock from 9/11 and alarmed about further terrorism, more suspicious after corporate scandals, increasingly jealous of the vigor in the military-industrial-technology complex, while facing a dreary private and public work life as consumers in the cogs of the wheel of free market capitalism. If the White House imagines that they can spin that, they certainly believe they have been blessed and ordained by God on this mission. Let's be clear about that. They do believe that. Just the same, my instincts tell me that many, many Americans are disillusioned with society and government as they know it, and that if a clear and present danger is presented, they will enthusiastically rally to participate in a cause that restores meaning in their lives, that reduces materialistic consumerism to its proper juvenile behavior, that gives vigor to the wounded spirit of America and restores honor to tarnished values. The dead and wounded will be received as martyrs for a just cause if and when the White House taps into a common sense of purpose and shared sacrifice, just as with any other nation and its patriots. There are too many who yearn for past glory, who despise the reality and complexity of the real world. It will be a clash of cultures, alright, and not necessarily overseas. - Karen <<<<< I'm tempted to spin off in a different direction after you wrote: "Just the same, my instincts tell me that many, many Americans are disillusioned with society and government as they know it" and go on to say that many Americans will have much the same feelings as they did about Vietnam -- that they're not prepared to go along with the government. Keith ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
