Take away teaches us what?

War is not about the ground taken. It isn’t even about the ground being held. Not in our tactical conflicts of the 21st century.

Ground lost is life wasted — unknown Vietnam Diary

Ever since Vietnam, we have known that the US can take any “ground” anywhere, anytime. We have the power to turn any, or every country’s clock back to the stone age. We can do this with the flick of switch, in the hatred of a moment.

With this power for destruction available to any US commander, why don’t we win wars? Are wars no longer fought the way we fight, or maybe, just maybe, they’re no longer fought over the things we can destroy or hold. Those things we take away aren’t what was being disputed.

Wars are won by those with a goal. Capture the flag, or take away the hill. To win you must know what you are after. If your goal is the destruction of a countryside or the subjugation of a people you will lose. No matter how ruthless, nor how completely you believe you are right, the 20th century demonstrated that you can’t win by trying to kill them all. If neither Hitler, nor Stalin could do it, neither can we.

We lost Vietnam because we only used bullets and bombs. — webionaire

Wars can’t end while the actors continue doing what began the war. Right now we are chasing our tail in Iraq. With more and more of the same. We can’t win if we continue to hold to a bullets and bombs answer. We will take ground, kill people until ….

We won’t run out of bullets. The citizenry will run out of patience. The US citizens hold low opinion of their own government. Not even believing it is ‘OUR’ government. The government belongs to “K” street, and “K” street never lived on “K” rations, nor MREs.

We are losing in Iraq for the same reason we lost in Vietnam. We never learned that war is for the people, not the land. Win the people, win the war. Hold the people, they’ll hold the land.

War has always been won by winning the people. That’s the way of the world, then and now.