Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, the great Southern general of the American Civil War (1861-1865) had a simple philosophy of war.
To end Union efforts to crush the newly-minted Confederate States of America, he urged, Southerners should quickly make its cost as high as possible.
Confederates, he believed, should take no prisoners. Instead, they should kill every Union soldier they could lay hands on.
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
Jackson’s views on war were shared by not only his fellow Southerners but, ironically, by one of the fiercest enemies of the Confederacy: William Tecumseh Sherman.
Sherman was the Union general who cut a swath of destruction through the South while “marching through Georgia.”
He is credited–or reviled–as the father of “total war,” thus making the suffering of civilians an integral part of any conflict.
In March, 1985, a staff officer told Sherman about Jackson’s opinion on not taking prisoners. Asked for his reaction, Sherman said: “Perhaps he was right.
“It seems cruel, but if there were no quarter given, most men would keep out of war. Rebellions would be few and short.”
William Tecumseh Sherman
Contrast that with the way Israel is now responding to hundreds of unprovoked rocket attacks by the Hamas terrorist group.
Since July 8, the Israeli Air Force has bombarded more than 900 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strp.
Israel claims it’s trying to avoid civilian casualties in the crowded urban landscape. Members of the Israeli military have been telephoning Palestinian residents whose homes have been targeted, warning them to leave.
One resident, Sawsan Kawarea, claimed she received a call from “David,” who said he was with the Israeli military.
“He asked for me by name. He said: ‘You have women and children in the house. Get out. You have five minutes before the rockets come,’” Kawarea said in an interview.
She ran outside with her children. A small rocket hit the house soon afterward. Five minutes later, a larger missile hit, destroying the house.
For years, the Israeli military has delivered such warnings via cellphone calls and small “warning rockets”–usually sent from drones.
The strategy has a nickname: “Roof knocking.”
It’s Israel’s response to longtime criticism for “collateral damage.” That is: Civilians killed while its military takes action in the crowded Palestinian territories.
The policy allows Israel to say: We did our bes to avoid killing civilians.
But in waging Politically Correct warfare to head off criticism, Israel has made a dangerous mistake.
Niccolo Machiavelli, the 15th century Florentine statesmen, carefully studied both war and politics. In his major work, The Discourses, he advises:
…Often individual men, and sometimes a whole city, will act so culpably against the state that as an example to others and for his own security the prince has no other remedy but to destroy it entirely.
Honor consists in being able, and knowing when and how, to chastise evil-doers. And a prince who fails to punish them, so that they shall not be able to do any more harm, will be regarded as either ignorant or cowardly….
Meanwhile, on the Gaza Strip: After a week of Israeli bombing more than 900 Hamas targets, Palestinian medical officials claimed that 186 people had been killed and at least 1,390 wounded.
That works out to about 26 people killed every day.
Contrast those figures with the casualties suffered by a single German city during World War 11 air raids during eight days and seven nights.
Beginning on July 24, 1943, the U.S. Air Force and the British Royal Air Force over several days killed 42,600 civilians and wounded 37,000 in Hamburg and practically destroyed the entire city.
The bombing ignited a firestorm that incinerated more than eight square miles, baking alive many of those who sought safety in cellars and bomb shelters.
Hamburg, Germany, after Allied bombing raids
For the vaunted Israeli Air Force to have killed so few of its enemies after dropping so many bombs testifies to a massive waste of ordinance.
Clearly, the only people making good on these raids are the arms makers supplying the bombs.
If the United States had managed to kill only 26 Germans a day in World War II, America and Nazi Germany would still be at war today.
No wonder Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel.
Machiavelli knew–and often warned–that while it was useful to avoid hatred, it was fatal to be despised. And he also warned that humility toward insolent enemies will only encourage their hatred for you.
An Aesop’s fable well sums up the lesson Israel should have learned long ago:
A snake was stepped on by so many people he prayed to Zeus for help. And Zeus said: “If you’d bitten the first person who stepped on you, the second would have thought twice about it.”
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POLITICS BY ORWELL: “WAR IS PEACE”: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 5, 2013 at 1:40 pmA two-year civil war is raging in Syria.
United Nations officials estimate that 6,000 people have died there trying to overthrow the dictatorial regime of “President” Bashar al-Assad.
And that’s sending jitters through the Washington elite.
Not the casualties. The fact that they’re being shown in vivid color on YouTube and CNN.
And this, in turn, has led many members of Congress and the Obama administration to fear for their jobs. They dread that voters will blame them for not “doing something” to end the fighting.
Like sending in American armed forces to somehow stop it.
Another reason driving America’s headlong rush into war: Sheer stupidity.
Start with the neocons, who lustily supported the 2003 Iraq war have been spoiling for yet another war in the Middle East.
On March 21, 2013, House Foreign Affairs ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) introduced the “Free Syria Act of 2013,” calling on the Obama administration to arm the Syrian rebels.
And on May 27, Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain secretly entered Syria and met with commanders of the Free Syrian Army, who are fighting forces loyal to “President” Bashar al Assad for control of the country.
He was the first U.S. senator to travel to Syria since civil war erupted there in 2011. And after he left, he told CNN that he was more convinced that the United States must become more involved in the country’s conflict.
President Barack Obama could have easily confronted these “give war a chance” enthusiests and put them on the defensive–had he wished to do so.
President Obama at press conference
He could have bluntly and repreatedly used the bully pulpit of his office to warn Americans:
And, most importantly, Obama could have directly challenged the macho ethic of the American Right.
Especially those members of it who, while avoiding military service themselves, are always eager to send others into harm’s way at the slightest excuse.
The President could have officially established an all-volunteer brigade for those Americans willing to fight and possibly die in yet another pointless war. And he could have offered to fly them to the border of Syria so they could carry out their self-appointed “conquer or die” mission.
Of course, many–if not most–of these armchair strategists would have refused to put their own lives on the line in defense of a “cause” they claim to believe in.
But then Obama could have brutally–and repeatedly–pointed this out. Hypocrisy is something Americans understand all too well–and despise.
Instead, for a man celebrated for his oratorical gifts, Obama has managed to talk himself into a no-win situation.
Theodore Roosevelt claimed to operate by a South African proverb: “Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far.”
Obama spoke loudly about the “big stick” of American military power and said that if Assad’s regime used chemical weapons against its enemies, that would be “a red line in the sand.”
By doing so, he needlessly put his credibility as President on the line.
On August 21, the Assad regime was accused of using chemical weapons in Damascus suburbs to kill more than 1,400 civilians.
On August 30, the Obama administration said it had “high confidence” that Syria’s government carried out the chemical weapons attack.
Having boxed himself in, Obama felt he had to make good on his threat–even if it risked the lives of those flying combat missions over Syria’s formidable air defenses.
Yet, even at this late stage, Obama could find a face-saving reason for not intervening. He could state that while there is apparent evidence of a chemical attack, there is no conclusive evidence that this was carried out by the Assad regime.
In short: He could shift the blame to one of the many terror groups operating in Syria–such as Hizbollah or Hammas or Al Qaeda.
This would take the United States off the hook–thus saving the lives of countless American soldiers and avoiding a potential nuclear confrontation with Russia.
But having needlessly put his own credibility–and ego–on the line, this is unlikely.
What’s more likely is Obama will continue to hurtle down the road to disaster.
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