September 26, 2017--Drums of War

I've been trying to distract myself but the insults being hurled back and forth between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are scary and my distraction strategies are not working. 

The situation is scary because both Trump and Kim appear to have serious problems handling disparagement. This is psychological and cultural.

So we have the "Little Rocket Man" (Trump is obsessed with anything little) while Kim has Americans looking up "dotard" in the dictionary. It is because of such adolescent ridiculousness that a massive war may be impending.

Sharing coffee yesterday morning, Phil said he thinks at least five things may be going on, one or more of them may provide slight cause, he says, to feel optimistic--

First, secret talks might be underway in Paris about the possibility of a deal. Paralleling the talks that were held in Paris from 1968 to 1973 between Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho about an agreement to end that war. This eventually worked out and things didn't get more out of control than they otherwise might have.

Second, Phil said, China might finally be getting the message that a massive war on its border is looking to be likely. They do not want hundreds of thousands of North Koreans crossing the Yalu River, seeking sanctuary as refugees. They also do not want to see a unified Korea which, of course, our ally, South Korea, would dominate. Given the various unattractive choices, the Chinese might pull the plug on the North Koreans. Cutting off their oil, for example, which would quickly cripple the regime. They could also, with us, privately, end North Korea's access to financial services.

Third, as has already been reported in the New York Times, it appears that South Korea is training a Navy SEALs kind of force to "decapitate" the senior leadership of North Korea, starting with the assassination of Kim. If this is underway, we can assume it has American backing and assistance. 

A corollary to this is the evidence that core members of the North Korean leadership elite are fed up with Kim and would like to see him ousted. A war would mean that they all would be viewed by us through the same lens and for them as a result the party would be over. Thus a few of them might be already sharing information about Kim and his movements with the South Korean assassination squad.

Phil also says it is likely that the U.S. has cyber-warfare weapons that have not been publicly revealed, weapons that have the capacity to shut down all of North Korea's power, communications, banking, and weapon systems. This, he feels, likely exists and is kept secret so as to discourage potential enemies from developing countermeasures.

And, fifth, related to this he feels it is also likely that we have other secret weapon systems similar to the bunker-busting bomb we unveiled and deployed in Afghanistan a number of months ago. We used it as much to draw attention to our capacities as to wipe out an al Qaeda unit. These new weapons might have the ability to track and destroy missiles before or just as they are deployed.

When Phil finished his list, he sat back and smiled. I stared at him, agreeing that some or much of this might be true, but as with all such weapons and strategies human error is the dangerous unknown so therefore do we want to continue to march down the path to war with the belief that we have the means to quickly disable and defeat North Korea?

Where have I heard this kind of boasting before? In Vietnam, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and of course Korea itself back in the 1950s.

I asked Phil how these earlier conflicts turned out. He knows enough history to say, "None of them worked out very well."

We were left with our coffee slowly cooling to room temperature.

January 21, 2015--Heroes

I half agree with Michael Moore.

He stepped in it over the weekend when he tweeted, in reference to the Clint Eastwood movie, American Sniper, that snipers are "cowards" and not "heroes."

He wrote--

My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shot you in the back. Snipers aren't heroes.

I haven't as yet seen the film so I am not sure if Chris Kyle, a real-life Navy SEAL who was credited with more than 160 "kills," shot anyone in the back or if the movie even made that distinction.

Shooting someone in the back to me wouldn't make someone a coward any more than a solider killing someone during a war with an explosive grenade or with a rocket launched from a drone guided to its target remotely from the security of an operations bunkers thousands of miles from the field of battle is a coward.

War in all its forms is evil--though it may at rare times be a necessary evil (WWII comes to mind), and so applying "rules" to war to me has always had the tincture of an oxymoron about it.

But I suppose rules of war may keep people from using chemical, biological, or atomic weapons and require that POWs be held and treated humanely. I have always believed, though, that any restraints combatants apply while otherwise blowing each other to pieces (often including innocents) is because they do not want the same tortuous things done to them if the tables were turned, which often happens in all forms of warfare.

So almost all that occurs is not cowardice but more because soldiers are doing their awful job or get carried along in the flow of things. As a result, moral judgements need to be applied extra-judiciously.

On the other hand, again not having seen the movie, I doubt if director Eastwood or actor Bradley Cooper present Kyle as much of a hero.

If they do, this could be a good corrective by Moore as to what it means to be a hero and to all the overpraising we have become prone to in so many aspects of our lives--from calling all our troops heroes (politicians do this uncontrollably) to representing every poop or scribble one of our kids produces as if no one ever did anything that amazing and miraculous.

True heroism is a very special and rare quality. It should be reserved for acts of courage and sacrifice, not for anything and everything one of our soldiers does in the daily course of serving in the military.

I know this is not just a product of otherwise rampant cultural hyperbole. It is also a reaction to the ways in which soldiers who were drafted to fight in Vietnam were treated--shabbily at best--when they returned from fighting. Even genuine heroes were shamelessly spat upon.

We are being careful this time to show respect for our troop volunteers while they are fighting and when they return. But not all of them are heroes and almost none of them are cowards. Before Michael Moore uses that label maybe he should sign up and see how he does.