I managed to miss the first three quarters of the Most Important Game What Ever Was Played while helping my son finish his science project.
Fatherhood FTW!
Anyhow,
Stuff I Forgot To Say:
TTBOOK (To The Best Of Our Knowledge, a public radio program that is available as a podcast) was excellent this week-the topic was loneliness, an idea that one author linked to an ancient word, ascetia, (I may be misspelling that, but I don’t have Internet access right now to check.) meaning a sort of spiritual restlessness and revulsion to human contact-almost like a midlife crisis. I knew exactly what she meant, and as soon as I can look up her name I will probably buy the book.
Dan Carlin’s Common Sense was also extraordinary. Dan described letters and emails he had received that described him as “un-American” due to his opposition to America’s adventures overseas. Dan very neatly pointed out that his “radical” idea that the American armed forces should demobilize in peacetime is one that comes directly from the founders, and is thus as American as all get out.
The third wonderful podcast I listened to was Bill Moyers’ Journal, which had a long, pseudo military historical discussion about the bombing of civilians. They raised an interesting point-it hasn’t ever worked, really. At least, not on its own. The lone exception I can come up with is the atomic bombing of Japan-but that doesn’t really count because that was an utterly new weapon, and also not really the carpet bombing or precision strikes of the modern era. (I have Carlos Mencia’s voice running through my head right now, in an exaggerated, B movie Japanese accent-“they drop TWO BOMBS!”)
But think about it-even in the pre-airplane age, total war, intended to break civilian morale and thus bring their government to heel, never works, does it? The British in the Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, World Wars One and Two, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and even the current CIA Predator strikes-trying to dishearten doesn’t seem to work. It may assist in a military campaign sure, but in every case, to get anything done, you need to go in there with troops and seize territory and hold it.
It is pleasurable to seize upon a new idea, to learn something for the first time.
Clinton bombed Serbia and Kosovo in order to end the Serbian invasion of Kosovo in the late 1990s. I suppose that is another time it worked.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. I didn't think of that. That still had to be enforced, eventually, by ground forces, though. But you make a good time-that is a second instance of a clear result being obtained via solely air attack.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, the no fly zone in Iraq was too.
"Come to think of it, the no fly zone in Iraq was too."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure on the timing, but didn't Saddam Hussein institute his genocide against the "Marsh Arabs" in the south while the no-fly zone was in effect?