quote:Originally posted by PatriotWITHaBrain:
Joy,
I thought all those nuclear warheads that Reagan and Company built, which have the destructive power to destroy the entire Earth twenty times over, as well as all those nifty precision-guided bombs, were supposed to keep us from having to deploy infantry...ohmygosh, do you mean that was all just a way to make defense contractors rich, just like Vietnam, just like Iraq?
I won't claim to be a military expert, but seems to me like the only real use for infantry in a foriegn theatre of war these days is for invading countries and waging urban warfare, which is hardly likely to be a remedy for a REAL threat to this country...
Which is precisely what's going on. Iraq is a street-fight, and to my way of thinking, we shouldn't be having to do a lot of urban warfare-- when we're fighting legitimate enemies as opposed to people we just feel the need to conquer. We're not fighting uniformed, identifiable military personnel-- just stupid/scared/superstitious/nationalistic citizens who feel like they're being invaded just like we would if the same were happening here.
Since I'm almost positive there is at least one enemy in Iraq that is smarter than you I'll ask:
If you were Iraqi, Irani, or pretty much any other country's soldier, would you really want to wear a uniform and stand up to the United States Military? Thats how you lose wars. The technological/manpower advantage is too far in our favor. Long gone are the days of two clear cut sides, wearing uniforms and carrying flags, marching into battle. The goal of war has rarely been to kill all of the other people, but to make the cost of contiueing the war too great for the opponent. Either politically, economically or tacticly. The Iraqi, Irani, and Syrian armed forces combined could not have defeated us in a "traditional" war. So now you see a different kind of war, and it is very effective. It worked for the Chinese and Russians in Vietnam and Korea. Strangely enough, we in this country cry foul at this type of war, even when we celebrate it on July 4th.