Is the US a warlike country?

[Ted Striker]

Already covered your first point in my previous post.


And the second point WAS discussed, by the Sec. of the Army himself. Rumsfeld completely ignored his Generals months before the election, who ALL kept telling him he needed several hundred thousand soldiers specifically for the occupation. HE was the one to push down the orders to the Pentagon, like I said, originally wanting 50,000 soldiers to do the job. Franks and Powell convinced him to up the number but still caved in in the end.

This was well known within the Pentagon, where everyone knew that the invasion would be cake but the occupation rough.

Sorry DanS but that is fact and not a matter of opinion.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by dannubis
if you see that ww2 was the last non imperialistic war the US fought,

Why would you see that? Simply because it helped your country?

[pchang]

overwhelming force was not even used for the invasion. supply lines were overstretched and most losses occurred from ambushes of support troops (the tail and not the teeth of the army). if overwhelming force was used, these types of losses would not have occurred.

[Ted Striker]

That's a good point pchang.

[Sandman]

I think the main problem is that the Americans see war as a way to decisively settle things once and for all.

The three conflicts which are the most symbolically important for Americans are the Second World War, the American Revolution and the American Civil War. These conflicts were decided once and for all the course history was to take. There was no Second American Civil War, no American-British war in the 19th Century, no return of Nazism.

Even the Cold War (whilst more of a confrontation) was decisively won.

Consequently, Americans think that if you really, really, REALLY want to defeat something, you declare war on it. Hence the "War on Terror".

Imagine a locked door labelled 'Terrorism' which two people named 'Europe' and 'America' have to get through. Whilst Europe would probably look for the key, America would try to kick the door down - the decisive route, versus looking for a key that might be impossible to find. But the kick might not work - and it might damage the lock, so that if Europe does find the key, it won't work.

[DanS]

We still have overwhelming force at the ready to just nuke and pave the place, like the Russians did in Grozny. Again, our ideology stops us from doing what could be done.

[DanS]

I think the main problem is that the Americans see war as a way to decisively settle things once and for all.

This is not a problem, let alone a main problem.

[Ted Striker]

So are you trying to make the point that our responses are somehow better than other people's because we haven't nuked places?

[DanS]

I didn't think this discussion was about right and wrong, Ted. Rather, it was a discussion about what Americans perceive and do and why they perceive and do it. Spending hundreds of billions of dollars on smart weapons was driven by American politics and military doctrine. Spiffor proposed that Americans had a guilt complex, and I was pointing out what seemed to me to be a more realistic explanation.

[Ted Striker]

Well, I would think being excessively warlike is not a good thing.

[DanS]

Again, I don't think that's the point of this thread.

[Ted Striker]

In case anyone is interested in how terrible Rumsfeld mismanaged Iraq, this clip tells the whole story:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/view/

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by DanS
Again, I don't think that's the point of this thread.

You don't.

[Sandman]

Originally posted by DanS
This is not a problem, let alone a main problem.

Why not?

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by DanS
Again, I don't think that's the point of this thread.

He's trying to jack the thread so that is the point of the thread.