War used to be messy, we're told, but not anymore. We now possess precision bombs and missiles. Our soldiers are better trained. War making has been recalibrated to minimize mistakes and to protect innocent civilians as well as our own soldiers and allies.
Yes, this is what we are told over and over and over again.
While there may be SOME degree of truth to such pronouncements, war remains a messy business. In the past week, NATO mistakenly/accidentally has bombed the Libyan rebels (our supposed allies) not once, but twice. The people in the planes thought they were bombing the "enemy," but it turns out that they weren't.
In regards to the second incident, the NATO commander stated that his people weren't aware that the rebels were using tanks. That's a real flimsy excuse since there are CIA operatives and their British counterparts on the ground advising the rebels and communicating with NATO.
But we already know from the war efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan that such mistakes happen frequently. Many of our drone aircraft routinely hit incorrect targets. We issue vague apologies and then hit incorrect targets again.
No matter how precise humankind attempts to make war, it will never be precise. That's not the nature of war. It will continue to be messy long into the future and it will stay that way until we decide it is too messy to engage in at all.
Yes, this is what we are told over and over and over again.
While there may be SOME degree of truth to such pronouncements, war remains a messy business. In the past week, NATO mistakenly/accidentally has bombed the Libyan rebels (our supposed allies) not once, but twice. The people in the planes thought they were bombing the "enemy," but it turns out that they weren't.
In regards to the second incident, the NATO commander stated that his people weren't aware that the rebels were using tanks. That's a real flimsy excuse since there are CIA operatives and their British counterparts on the ground advising the rebels and communicating with NATO.
But we already know from the war efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan that such mistakes happen frequently. Many of our drone aircraft routinely hit incorrect targets. We issue vague apologies and then hit incorrect targets again.
No matter how precise humankind attempts to make war, it will never be precise. That's not the nature of war. It will continue to be messy long into the future and it will stay that way until we decide it is too messy to engage in at all.
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