Actually, (just to be argumentative) I'm not sure we can pin this on the
military.
If you think about post-WWII warfare, it was driven principally by civilians,
not generals. I give you Robert McNamara, for example, who was hell bent to
fight in Vietnam, when the admirals and generals and such were much more
hesitant. Gen. Westmoreland, as I recall, was extremely reticent about ground
warfare in Vietnam, but once the decision was made, he saluted and set about
doing it the way he thought was right (which was wrong). And then there's
General Colin Powell, who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into Gulf War
I, even though that one was pretty clear cut from a moral standpoint. As for
Grenada and Panama and those other brush-fire flareups, I don't think it was
the military champing at the bit to go in.
Of course I can't speak for the French, who have had their share of military
adventures since the end of World War II, and I can't speak for the Brits,
though as I recall it was Mr. Blair and some of his own who wished to help
invade Iraq against the better judgement of their military advisers.
This most current flare up centers around the National Security Agency, which,
while it has a military director, is a _civilian_ organization--at least it's
populated principally by civilians and driven principally by civilians. Back in
the very early days of broadband monitoring, which is the nut of the current
controversy, I can assure you most assuredly that it was _not_ the American
military that wanted to surrender human assets in favor of all those beeping
satellites.
When fighting happens, the military is out front and gets most of the press.
The brass follows its orders. But as a rule, I don't believe it's the military
that wants to pull the trigger, because soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines
_know_ who's going to do the suffering and dying.
--Bob Whitmire
Registered Neanderthal and ex-spook
On Jul 23, 2013, at 4:26 PM, Chris Barker wrote:
> And finally, I do not trust the motivation of many in the military, mostly in
> the USA . . .
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|