One of the dirty little open secrets of warfare is that in the past atrocities have been selectivly encouraged at times for their demoralizing "value".

One of the dirty little open secrets of warfare is that in the past atrocities have been selectivly encouraged at times for their demoralizing "value".

The Moro women fought alongside the men and held their children before them, having sworn to die rather than yield. In this way a number of women and children were among the killed -- an unfortunate but necessary evil.

Officials briefed on preliminary results of the inquiry said the civilians killed at Haditha, a lawless, insurgent-plagued city deep in Sunni-dominated Anbar Province,

On a broader scale we can also say that the constant lack of support and criticism by the Left in this country has resulted in an atmosphere in which they felt isolated and unrelated to the rules set by "civilians."

I would posit that the Marines lost control, which speaks poorly of their immediate chain of command's abilities to train and discipline.

Squeaky - I have offered a reasoned argument and you respond that I hate Islam and work for OBL?

On a broader scale we can also say that the constant lack of support and criticism by the Left in this country has resulted in an atmosphere in which they felt isolated and unrelated to the rules set by "civilians."

A professional miliary under pressure to perform and feeling that performance is hampered by the Left, will eventually become frustrated and morp into a 21st Century Praetorian Guard.

and feeling that performance is hampered by the Left

As we both know, the military trains killers.

War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." ­John Stuart Mill

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight...

Bush is still trying to figure out where Grant hid out after he ducked out on his physical for the Mexican War.

Putin was publicly formulating concerns of ruling circles in Moscow who see a growing threat in the increasing aggressiveness of the US. Putin went on to reproach Washington: "Where is all this pathos about protecting human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests?" He added that the worldwide arms race was not yet over. Quite the opposite, a "new technological level" had been reached internationally. The arms race was accelerating. He pointed out that the US defense budget was 25 times larger than that of Russia. With regard to the controversy over Iran's nuclear program, Putin indirectly warned against the use of force.

(if I could go back and sell AK-47s and RPG's to the Apaches, the West and the Southwest would look a little bit different right now, ethnically

Twenty-three years and more than a million dead, later, the United States withdrew its military forces from Vietnam. Most people say that the U.S. lost the war. But by destroying Vietnam to its core, and poisoning the earth and the gene pool for generations, Washington had achieved its main purpose: preventing what might have been the rise of a good development option for Asia. Ho Chi Minh was, after all, some kind of communist.

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.