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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Friday, April 30, 2004 :::
Mackubin Owens thinks our troops in Iraq have been too nice:A "humane" approach to war — one that stresses precision and minimizing collateral damage — may lead a population spared the horrors of war to believe that they haven't been defeated. And the fact is that a war ends when the defeated say it is over, not when the victors do. [emphasis added]
This is a real dilemma for U.S. war planners. On one hand, we are justly proud of the fact that we have gone out of our way to wage war in a way designed to avoid the deaths of civilians. On the other, those same civilians may conclude that the cost of continued resistance is low. I believe that this is the case with the people of Fallujah. Unlike the Germans and Japanese in 1945, they may not believe that they were defeated. "If we can just hold on," they may be thinking, "the Americans will go away and we can return to Sunni business as usual." While you're at NRO, see also "Rumsfeld's war, Powell's occupation".
::: posted by Steven at 10:38 PM
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