Its not so much that we can't adapt to our enemies, the rank and file have no problems doing this. Its that they aren't allowed.

It's the sheer fact of politics. We are so stuck on this "Hearts and Minds" that we have hindered the soldiers so much in what they can and cannot do.

And many of us would love to see the scorched earth policy happen.

You're trained to want that.

After WWII, they did some studies that showed that something like only fifteen percent of all soldiers actually fired their weapons during combat - the natural reluctance to kill was too strong. Being the military, despite the fact that we had just won the greatest war in human history, they decided to reform training methods to "fix" the problem, and by the time of Vietnam, it was no longer an issue - the killer instinct was firmly emplaced within the American soldier.

Pointlessly, of course. Has there ever been a serious effort to win hearts and minds in Vietnam, the RVN might have been able to establish real credibility on its own, and deal with the NLF and SRVN either diplomatically or militarily from its own resources.

The killer instinct was created too late to be able to make a difference. Post-WWII conflicts are less about firefights and more about ideologies - which is where we lost Vietnam, and where we're losing Iraq and Afghanistan. Nation-building is what might win a war, but we're only paying the concept lip service while continuing to overemphasize actual combat operations in our training methods.

And there's another problem with that, which is that training you to be a killer isn't going to do you any good when you return to civilian life. If it did, you'd recognize how inhumane "scorched earth" actually is. Civilized peoples don't do it.

The way the American military is fighting its wars now is just a recipe for PTSD and hate. The fact that it doesn't happen more often is a testament to the solid stability of the average recruit, and that's something we should all be grateful for.

http://69.25.26.69/spotlight/giveback/usa

I'd be curious to know how much "foreign aid" is given in the form of attack helicopters and M16s. Our government has a habit of taking our tax money and giving it to their cronies in the military-industrial complex to buy their toys, then giving those toys to places like Iran and Nicaragua and Colombia so that we can feel good about the "aid" we sent overseas.

Or they'll buy grain in the form of subsidies to US agribusiness, take that grain and dump it in foreign markets so that local farmers in places like India and Korea can't compete and have to go work in the sweatshops that make our cheap gear.

And we consume (i.e. TAKE) so much more than the rest of the world combined--it's only right that we should give back.

Charity does not equal justice. It's like we steal from everybody and then complain about how much we give back.

What you say is very true. And I don't disagree with any of it.

When I first got here, I would have been very anti-scorched earth. But time spent here tends to change people some. Seeing and living through alot of the events here will do that.

Could be I am bitter, frustrated, greiving and angry at the events that led to this, as well as how it is being handled. The loss of life is astounding for what we have accomplished.

And your right about civilized people don't do scorched earth. But the insurgent actions don't leave much room to fight a civilized war. They arent. And I know we can't stoop to thier level, but hell, it's nice to have a healthy fantasy once in while. Hence my scorched earth comment. We can think about it, just aslong as it remains a thought and not an action. And none of us here even think it is going to happen. Because as you said, most people are stable.

...wow.

We're in their country. They want us to leave. I don't think they really need to be civil to us at this point. I know that I would not be civil to foreign invaders if they tried to take over this country.

And I don't think we're being "civil" by trying to steal their resources and force open their markets by dropping bombs and trying to beat them into submission.

We're also not beheading them on film, which is I think what he's getting at. I oppose the war myself, as you know, but even though they're fighting for their country, that doesn't excuse their own atrocities.

This is a gross oversimplification. To the point of just being patently false. I guess it depends on who you mean by "they". Because you're not specifying. Iraqis in general? Insurgents? Sunnis? Shi'ites? Do you honestly feel like "they" lack civility towards us because we invaded? What about "their" lack of civility towards each other? What about the countless IRAQIS dead at the hands of the insurgency?

If you want to talk about civility, we and our Idiot Leader are responsible for kicking off a civil war, for sure, but to say that the violence in Iraq right now is just patriotic countrymen joining hands and coming together to fight "foreign invaders...taking over [their] country" just doesn't fit the facts.

I work fir UPS .
their being really anle right now

What?

Hello? Did we just switch realities?

Fighting an insurgency with a "scorched earth" policy simply drives more of the indigenous population to take up arms and join the insurgency, either in the short term or the long term.

It's the actions by U.S. forces that most resemble a "scorched earth" policy, like massive sweep and detention operations aimed against all Iraqi men of military age in certain neighborhoods that have caused a backlash against U.S. troops.

As much as the phrase "winning the hearts and minds" has fallen into disrepute, it's really the core of a successful counterinsurgency campaign.

I certainly don't mind if combat troops have daydreams about killing 'em all and letting God sort 'em out, but it's a horrible strategy for Iraq.

I can't remember - did I eat the blue pill or the red one?

I mean Iraqis in general. One thing that unifies them all is their desire to have us leave.

Yes.

Colonial powers have practiced a "divide and conquer" policy for as long as there's been colonialism. I think we should stop arming both sides before we criticize them for killing each other.

And we have closed our eyes to the atrocities that 10 years of sanctions and four years of war have wrought. Abu Ghraib was just the tip of the iceberg.