Why are we suprised at the brutality of war?

[greblc]

Civilians suffer,towns are leveled, lives are destroyed. Has war ever been any different? It's a lesson our leaders can't seem to learn.

How can a nation as violent as ours a truly understand War and it consequences? As a nation most of us only know War through media. War seems of little consequence to most of us. It's so easy to look the other way and continue the brutality. Until it lands on our doorstep. Mandatory Service, A Draft ? When does it become our reality?
When do we "do our part" to end the madness and bring about Peace?

War has been unleashed at our hand and there a no limits to the damage it may bring. It was the shock of Atomic weaponry that expedited the conclusion of WW2.

Where will the current conflicts lead us? How can we possibly leave this mess to our children?

[CuteNFuzzy]

1. I am surprised

I didn't think Israel would use chemical weapons and target UN peacekeepers

[MadMaddie]

2. You have a very good point...

We will do our part when we rid ourselves of the cancer in DC and bring back the grownups to cleanup the fucking mess that the * cabal has created. I believe a Draft is coming....and that is when Americans will wake up....but this draft will be different because men (rightly so) will say that women of draft age must be drafted too....this will be the real wake up call......

<snip>
Until it lands on our doorstep. Mandatory Service, A Draft ? When does it become our reality?
When do we "do our part" to end the madness and bring about Peace?
<snip>

[greblc]

5. Young American men and women will just say no.

It may be why we haven't seen one yet. My opinion is that MOST who beat the War Drum are unwilling to sacrifice themselves or loved ones for a foriegn conflict.

[MadMaddie]

6. Agreed....

[FloridaPat]

3. Leave this mess to our children! I wasn't even born when it started

This is 3 generations of people going through this. I am surpsied at the brutality because every time I read about a war, things get bad. Human beings are very ugly in war. And every new war brings worse human nature out. Out nation was founded on war and brutality. Just ask the Native Americans, the African Americans, the Vietnamese, and all the other countries we wrekced havoc in. And this is nothing compared to the evil that we have brought to Iraq.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Yes, at one time war was different

the weapons that people used weren't capable of destroying and poisoning vast numbers of people and land-and if this madness continues, the entire world. We still have the warrior mentality of the fellows from the stone age who decided they hated the group in the next valley, for whatever reason.

[Trajan]

7. Who is surprised ? ....

Most of us in here are, in all except the most extreme and absolutely justifiable cases, antiwar .... It is because we have the knowledge of that brutality that we ARE antiwar

There is nothing new about this kind of brutality, nor in the tacit ignorance of it's impact to societies by people we presume should know better ....

The Israelis and Arabs are locked into a cycle of fear that has twisted and reduced their sense of humanity to the point where considerations of brutality are secondary ... it is a mutual fear that they continue to perpetuate in their psychotic dance ; by refusing to stop dancing ....

Where is our Ghandi ? ... Where is the MLK to speak the TRUTH to power ? ... The world NEEDS a dose of NONviolent discussion, something we used to call PEACE talks .. We DONT need more war .....

The powers that be in the US are enriched by war, and so they do all they can to promote it ....

WHY hasnt the State Department been in the ME the last 6 fucking years seeking a resolution to this heartbreaking cycle ? ... WHY hasnt the Bush WH sought to end these well known hostilities BEFORE they exploded into view once more ? ....

Because they LOVE war ... they do NOT want to stop it ....

Your conclusions are valid, but your premise is not ... most of us know about that brutality : we just seem powerless to end it ....

[AlamoDemoc]

8. I am not surprised

We have had attack policy in the Middle East since King George came to the throne, nor am I surprised of what is taking place in Lebanon and Palestine. History will record it was all done by way of genocide....and I am very much aware of my saying.

[KoKo]

9. Ohhh WWI was a horrible mess for GB...Gassed soldiers...A generation

of young men lost because of "Generals at the Top" massive SCREW UP...Mustard GAS in Trenches, TB and dissentary that there was no cure fore. Left in trenches to die, rot from skin diseases.

Then there was WWII with Bombs and Hiroshima and the Nuclear Killing and Maiming of thousands of Japanese who were left with Birth Defects and disfigurement all their lives and the soldiers of US who witnessed the first "test" dead of cancer...My Father-in-Law."

Then there was Korea with soldiers lost in Winter snows in the terrain to fight another WAR we Americans had to pull out of.

Vietnam! Which left us with Napalmed Civilians and soldiers so zoned on drugs and the horrors of killing women and children that they never recovered and left our America a legacy of Divisiveness that still rules our Politics to this DAY! Swift Boater Liars going after Kerry and "Chickenhawks" after a Rep in Georgia who had limbs blown off in Viet Nam.
Massacres and violence and Napalm and Bullets...and America had to Pull out of that one too because they couldn't win a war against "insurgents" fighting for their own HOMELAND.

Then there are the Mini Wars like Grenada and Haiti where we went in and overthrew folks in poverty stricken countries so Presidents could get their "War Credentials" in shape for the NeoCon's who were just getting their "sea legs..flexing muscles" and then there's IRAQ WAR I where Poppy Bush went into to show Saddam our Puppet that he got "too big for his britches" and that was a "Clean War for CNN VIEWERS" that set us up for this LONG DIRTY WAR we will be in through our Grandchildren.

Don't tell me about WAR and that this one is so DIFFERENT! I've lived through TOO MANY WARS and seen the consequences. It isn't a VIDEO GAME..there are consequences and repercussions that last! It breaks down and degrades people.

WAR IS NOT GOOD FOR PLANTS, ANIMALS and ALL LIVING THINGS!!!!

[Democrats_win]

10. Gulf War 1 showed us brutality: highway of death. Remember?

Bush's airplanes massacred Saddam's retreating army. The pictures are awful.

Of course it didn't happen to us. The recent commemorations of the WW1 Somme Valley trench warfare attacks remind us of how WW2 leaders like Churchill truly did understand the brutality of war. Perhaps that is why Britain fought so hard in the Battle of Britain. So, could our lack of respect for war's brutality by our Achilles heel? Will we eventually get in over our heads because of this and learn too late the brutality of war?

[greblc]

13. My thought is some turn of events will perpetuate...

the current conflicts to a point beyond the pain we know. The Islamic fundamentalists seem to want an escalation, They know how to push the buttons and it"s only a matter of time before they draw us futher into the tempest. They baited Israel into this conflict.

[porphyrian]

11. I'm guessing it has to do with hiding the horrors of war...

...from us by not covering it in the media. The argument can't even be made that there aren't wars every generation - there's been one somewhere in all its grue and terror since any of us have been born. I guess a corporate media obsessed with the sexual preference of celebrities and pills for erectile dysfunction can't be bothered with journalism any more. We can't even see the coffins of the loyal soldiers who have died for the current lie.

[Strelnikov_]

12. Hear Hear

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

- Sir Winston Churchill

[blues90]

14. My two cents

I read in some of these posts that americans have no experience with war on american soil and this is true . However we have has years of magazines and news as well as movies to give us some indication of the horrors of war .part of this is biased , there were many movies designed to set the stage for hate , the enemy was depicted as unhuman and a filthy grince that deserved to die .

We have seen reality of war and seem to have become desensitized to all forms of human slaughter .

Our american history has been painted as a endearing portait through print , however through art is has been depicted as a horror , most americans are not into art for the most part .

We rave for competition in sports and the win more than for the spot of the game , it is the victory that only counts not how you played the game .

For years we have been lulled into a trance of the importance of wealth as the main doorway to success and recognition .

No , war does not surprise me , what surprises me is our unwillingness to learn from our mistakes and our ignorence to keep repeating a act that we know will always produce the same outcome .

What amazes me is our willingness as people to employ ourselves in the manufacture of weapons and their advancement instead of applying the same effort into the promotion of wellness and education for all .

What amazes me is we allowed this fake government to gain control and build power as they have and continue to do . With what we havegot now , nothing of horror will surprise me , anything of good certainly will .