Re: america

blah b b blah (jrovira@juno.com)
Wed, 31 Mar 1999 17:53:32 -0500 (EST) 

Honestly, the attitudes of that particular Senator kinda scare me.  I
appreciate the quote.  I disagree with the mindset he's approaching the
conflict with and the types of decisions he would make scares me.

The pilots are people like you and I, have families, etc.  They're not
playing a video game and know it.  They're freaking being shot at. 
That's part of war.  And I'm pretty sure they're intelligent enough to
know flesh and blood is being pulverized into little teeny pieces every
time they fire a weapon -- if they did their jobs effectively.  I think
you just try not to think about it and do what you have to, and hope the
people calling the shots are doing the right thing.

But I think you can look back to other situations in the recent past to
determine what kind of response you're going to get in this situation. 
In the Gulf War we had very particular goals, met them, then pulled out. 
Many, many Americans were saying, "finish the job and get rid of
Hussein."  Many are still saying that.  But Bush went against that and
stuck to his commitment.  This far and no further.

Every President since Vietnam knows how fatal it is to their popularity
to lose large numbers of ground troops in any conflict.  You can take
that fact, and even on the most cynical view know that any President will
keep military objectives narrow and end the conflict once they are met. 
That means the political realities dictate that we fight for peace and
nothing more.

I've read the Tao.  Good stuff.  

Jim    

 On Tue, 30 Mar 1999 19:45:51 -0600 John Touzios
<JTouzios@mwumail.midwestern.edu> writes:
>jim,
>a quote from yesterday's chicago tribune:
>
>mccain, a key member of the senate armed services committee and a 
>vietnam war 
>combat pilot, said clinton's commitment had put american and nato 
>military 
>power on the line and that there now is no choice but to defeat 
>milosevic if 
>u.s. credibility is to survive.
>  "that means we have to exercise every option," mccain said.  "we 
>can't allow 
>him to win.  we are the superpower."
>
>you could probably imagine a military man saying something like this 
>anywhere 
>in history, from an athenian in peloponnesian war onward.  i wonder, 
>however, 
>if there isn't something new under the sun in it.  i don't have to 
>remind 
>anyone that a missile can now take out, say, chicago, and this is now 
>a part 
>of our mythology, as well.  (i'm not saying it's fictional, or 
>anything, just 
>a concern.)  another thing in that bucket is what's going through the 
>heads of 
>our pilots.  perhaps they feel like they're playing a video game, but 
>i of 
>course can't know. another probable picture in there (please tell me 
>if i'm 
>full of shit) is what home sweet home must look like; what are we 
>fighting for 
>if not peace?
>
> i'm not your man when you use axioms like "we have to look at every 
>conflict 
>seperately" and so forth.  i don't think i've thought about war as 
>much as 
>you. being a god-damned taoist means i let the world go its own way to 
>a 
>perhaps excessive degree.
>
>john touzios
>
>"Man the most complex, intricate and delicately constructed 
>machine of all creation, is the one with which the osteopath 
>must become familiar."  A.T. Still
>
>"Everyone seems to know how useful it is to be useful.
> No one seems to know how useful it is to be useless."
>                           Chuang Tzu
>
>

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