Interesting quote, GUEST. I've always been fascinated by the study of war, and have spent thousands of enjoyable hours playing highly realistic wargames of some of history's greatest campaigns...both board games and computer games. When you're in a war, you play to win (if possible). If it's not possible, then you play to draw. If a draw is not possible, then you play to minimize losses and make a good strategic withdrawal...and in real life, you negotiate.

It's wise to have a coherent honour code that you understand and that you PRESERVE scrupulously, regardless of what heinous things the enemy may do. If you respond to atrocities with atrocities of your own (as is commonly the case) it will only serve to weaken your own moral position and your strength in the long run...and you will yourself become the "enemy" that you think you are fighting against. The Allies in World War II fell into that trap many times. Better to fight a respected enemy (like Rommel was for the British and they for him) than a despised enemy. To despise your enemy is to fall into the trap of absolutism..."we are good, they are evil". It's anti-human and it leads to horrific results.

All the major players committed terrible war crimes in World War II...and that, in retrospect, turned Nuremberg into a hypocritical farce, in my opinion (although I agree that the Nazis were the worst of the lot, all things considered). A number of people were tried who should not have been...such as the Japanese general Yamashita, for one. A number of people weren't tried who should have been (in my opinion), because they happened to be on the winning side.

One kind of war that is exceedingly hard to win, in the long run, is a foreign occupation of some land by a superior military power from a different culture. The Americans tried it once in the Phillipines, later in Vietnam, and are now trying it in Afghanistan and Iraq. The British and French tried it in any number of former colonies, and were finally forced to leave. The Russians tried it in Afghanistan and many other places, and were finally forced to leave.

I don't see any good result for American troops remaining in Afghanistan or Iraq, and I believe they should be withdrawn. Will there be bloodshed when they leave? Yes. Will there be bloodshed regardless of whether they leave? Yes. The bloodshed is inevitable, and so is the eventual departure of the imperial occupying forces in those lands, because they have no business being there in the first place.

Will terrorism continue? Yes, as long as much of the World is daily terrorized by the USA's (and others') weapons of mass destruction, and lives in inequality, poverty, and powerless despair...longing only for equality. Equality. Equality is a sacred and holy thing, and people everywhere will struggle until they have it.

- LH