War?

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ArmySon

Staff Alumnus
War. Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines war as:
1 a (1) : a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations (2) : a period of such armed conflict

"Will we go to war?" seems to be the popular question. Cries for revenge and Bin Laden’s head is prevalent in today’s conversations. Are we ready for war? Obviously, the popular answer is YES!

So America is ready for war, eh? How about a war that’s drawn out 6 months? 12 months? 24 months? 48 months? “NO! It could never last that long! America is the strongest country in the world. We have the absolute best military! A war with terrorists will never last that long!” Maybe.

How many have thought about other ‘possibilities’ with this ‘war’? Take into consideration, Saudi Arabia. In 1999, Saudi Arabia was the largest supplier of oil to the United States. They slipped last year to Canada but our dependency on Saudi oil is quite evident.

What does Saudi oil have to do with a prolonged war? Consider the fact that Bin Laden and Iraq hate Saudi Arabia for selling oil to the United States. Consider the fact that they view Saudi Arabia as an enemy towards Islam. Do you believe for a second that a war against Bin Laden will not lead to a war against Iraq? Do you believe that leaving Bin Laden and Iraq alone would be in the best interest of the United States?

Furthermore, a war against these extremists is a deadly war. How do you destroy a group of soldiers who already have nothing but religion? Yes, a lot of this is speculation but take it for what it’s worth as food for thought.

Lastly, what happens when other Arab countries decide it's time to knock down the US as a world power? Unthinkable? Remember a nation called the U.S.S.R?

Like many, I love this country dearly and willing to shed blood and possibly die while fighting for our freedom. I realize that this situation will get very ugly and many people will die. War will cause somebody's daughter, son, husband, or wife to die. Is the rest of America ready for the same? I pray we all are…
 
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Art Eatman

Staff in Memoriam
As an indicator of the possible psychology of some folks, I've been intrigued by the reactions of some of the newsies as they come to understand such things as a couple of hundred thousand truckloads of rubble to be hauled away. "Why, that could take MONTHS!"

Or as to the callup of Reserves: "Why, they could be away from their loved ones for MONTHS!"

I can't see any reasonable amount of "win" or "resolution" in less than a couple of years. Not all-out, on-the-ground infantry warfare, of course, but it's gonna be a long time before the big majority of training camps and terrorists no longer exist.

One thing for sure, it'll take an aggregation of actions to truly reduce major terroristic hazards. It ranges from air travel to immigrant document control and Customs on to actual killing and destruction.

Art
 
G

Goet

New member
for all the complexity involved

I'm glad that we do have cool heads thinking this through before we react.
What happens if we do vaporize a small non-combatant village and the Arabic media (we all know how impartial the media is, just imagine it there) starts playing pictures of kids with their arms and legs blown off? How many countries in the middle east would sign on for the long haul against us? Yikes! We would have friends far and few between in that area of the world.

What happens if the NATO countries start to get cooled heels in their support of the US? Are we ready to handle a conventional war on all sides, alone?

If it does get out of hand and escalates into a Nuke war--never mind. Don't even want to contemplate the possibilities there.

We've got the escalation of tension in China?--and they do have the power to hurt us if half of our depleted military forces are overseas.

We have tentative alliances with some nations in the middle east. And that, mostly out of fear. Imagine if they all decided, "what the hell!", and broke out in full war and terrorism on us.

We need to tread carefully. Tread forward, yes. Just very carefully.
 
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Jorah Lavin

New member
Anyone else heard "Fifteen Years" this week?

I'm fairly sure I heard one of the big boys in D.C.; Bush or Powell or another say something about this being a campaign that could last 15 years.

Life has truly changed.

I wonder if the war machine will have any use for an aging expert HTML author...

Hmmmmm.
 
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12-34hom

New member
Bomb it, I love America.

The price of liberty is never cheap.

All of us owe a unflinching duty to those who have gone before us and paid the ultimite price for what we share today[ freedom with all other Americans.

Can we due no less?

God bless this Republic for which it stands.

12-34hom.
 
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