Comments by "Jim Werther" (@jimwerther) on "American Veterans Center"
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@kannermw
That is the sort of thing you can't say out loud, but I've thought something similar for many years. My version is not quite as tough to swallow: Looking at how Palestinian terrorists routinely hide among civilians in Gaza etc., how they shoot rockets off from apartment buildings and hospitals, and how the terrorists literally carry babies with them while they attack knowing that Israel will let them go, I've long said that I would have the following policy: All military targets are legitimate, period. If the military targets are set up in civilian areas, then the civilian area just became a military target, and all blame for civilian deaths goes to whoever set up a military target around civilians. My version, I think, is easier to defend than yours.
That said, I will tell you how the Civil War was won by the North in 1864-1865. General William Tecumseh Sherman was tired of the Civil War dragging on. He had predicted from the start how the war would go, with Southern enthusiasm and initial victories being eventually worn down by the North after a few years. By mid-1864, everyone knew that it was just a matter of time until the North won, but many Southerners refused to face that reality. Sherman decided to push the envelope, theorizing that the war would end once the average Southerner found it sufficiently unbearable. He then began his march through the South, wherein after every military conquest his army would burn down every house nearby. They would tell the women to pack up themselves and their children, because their house was about to be burnt down. The women would be bawling, pointing out that they were innocent civilians who would now be homeless and unable to protect their children, but Sherman's army gave them no choice.
Behind thee scenes, Sherman's men found this action tore apart their souls, but Sherman insisted it was necessary. You know what? He was right. Throwing an endless line of women and children into the street seemed to be the most heartless thing in the world, particularly at a time when men were men and women were women. But as Sherman burned down the South, the price became unbearable for the Rebels, and an increasing number began to pressure Confederate President Jeff Davis to end the war already, as the price of war had become too much to bear.
To this day, the South curses Sherman's name, but he ultimately saved lives by pushing the war to an earlier conclusion.
Still different than what you advocated, but interesting and relevant nonetheless.
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