Sunday, March 30, 2003

[Colin Glassey] Luttwack Argues that the War must be Absolute In this opinion piece for the Telegraph, Edward Luttwak writes that Long ago, Karl von Clausewitz, the supreme theoretician of war, explained why every attempt to prettify its essential violence with inconsistent acts of moderation, every refusal to use maximum force when it can be purposeful and no mere rampage, adds to the human costs of war by extending its cruelties and deprivations, and even more by delaying the arrival of the desired peace that is the only possible goal of any rational war. ...(We should be) using the strongest possible tactics right at the start of any urban warfare - demolishing tall buildings, for example, rather than fighting through them floor by floor - as well as by denying all use of mass media to the regime by cutting electricity. Again, not only American and British soldiers would avoid injuries and deaths but also far greater numbers of Iraqis. If the Bush Administration does not have the stomach for that, preferring to endanger Allied troops (including Captain Jonathan Luttwak US Army) rather than accept the odium of bad publicity from scenes of ruined buildings and the inevitable civilian casualties that go with them, it should not have chosen to start a war in the first place. Well, Luttwak's summary of Clausewitz is correct. However, the logical result of this thinking, as I see it, is that we should drop nuclear bombs on Bagdad right now. Sure we would kill a hundred thousand Iraqi civilians but the war would be over sooner and everyone would be better off in the long run. If, as he says, there is no way to prettify war then why not use the most powerful weapons we have? I know Mr. Luttwak is not arguing for that. He is arguing for a less interference from superiors in fighting the war. I agree with him on this. I however do think there is a role for moderation in war. I'm sorry to say this to Mr. Luttwak but I'm willing to have more of our soldiers die so that we kill fewer Iraqis. After 10 days, I think this war is way to young to be called a failure. I still remain convinced that murderous dictatorships like Saddam's Iraq are fragile. Everyone in Iraq knows people who have been murdered or disappeared because they looked at a Saddam poster the wrong way. Eventually the people of Iraq will realize that Saddam will fall. We need to convince them of that fact. 12:20:10 AM

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