[quote]lixy wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
lixy wrote:
…Many times, Zap and the others kept repeating that war is good for the economy …
I have never said that you lying sack of shit. War is a horrible waste. It is unfortunate that your murderous friends make it necessary. the sooner peace can be reestablished the better for all. Unfortunately peace never lasts.
Oh, really?
In that case, what did you mean by this comment on the “Bill the Iraqis for War Costs” thread?
Zap Branigan wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
Sifu wrote:
It would be nice if they could pay for it. However in the greater scheme of things I think it is more important right now that we get them up and functioning as an independent nation.
The money that is going into the arms industry is keeping a sizable chunk of our economy running. You should consider that.
That money comes from the army. The army’s money comes from the government. Guess where the governments money comes from?
Yes, it is all a circle. That is why the cost of war talk is a bit phony. It is not a zero sum game as many of the libertarian phony economists would have us believe.
[quote]GDollars37 wrote:
Gkhan wrote:
Varqanir wrote:
Oh, I don’t know. People like Tamarlane, Genghis Khan, Hannibal Barca and Spahbod Surena were not part of Western culture, yet they certainly saw the value of a nice decisive battle, and were not above doing plenty of collateral damage in the process.
V, I agree with your accessment on terrorists vs soldiers…war crimes vs collateral dammage.
In the past, the rule was (from Crusaders time till the Manchus marched on China) if you were in a walled city and you surrendered, your city was looted, and a garrison was put in charge. If you resisted in any way, your city was eventually looted, but everyone inside was slaughtered.
That was pretty much the way it was in warfare before it became PC.
Warfare did not “become PC,” that’s stupid. There have always been laws and norms in warfare, they have just changed over time.[/quote]
What also changed the face of war was film. There was always ethnic cleansing, if that’s what you want to call it, but what the Nazi’s did was not only on a grand scale, but also extensively photographed and documented.
We can and do use those documents to illustrate the definiton of war crimes and have been doing so ever since.
We might have bombed civilians to end the war, but the Germans did what they did because they wanted to and because they could.
Ha…Were you down in Zambo? I love Fil weapon Maintenance. What’s really fun is guiding 'em in a night live fire excercise.
At least the M14’s were rockin![/quote]
I did about a month and a half in Zambo. I did several months after that in Basilan running convoys out of a base near Isabella. I also spent a while in a base we put up near Maluso where we guarded an airstrip. It was the best 4-5 months of my life. I was one of the first 14 Marines on the Island. I practically begged the major to let me stay but some deployment law was in effect before Iraq and if I stayed they’d have to pay me extra for spending too much time in the field. The fact that I’ll never do anything like that again depresses the holy shit out of me. Guess that’s the price of marriage eh? When were you in Zambo?
I loved the Filipino Marines. They were all rambo’d out with bandannas and M60s and ammo belts across their chests. One of them had a little cylinder on his belt. I asked him what it was and his corporal looked at me and said, “Rifle grenade. Very dangerous. Only PFC carry.”