A few notes on modern war
War is no longer profitable for the nation state as many observers point out but it is still profitable for a lot of people. This is why war persists in our modern world and is now sleazier and bloodier than ever in some ways.
The United States government maybe loosing money on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but a lot of other people are profiting from them; defense contractors, professional mercenaries, professional soldiers, drug lords, warlords, terrorists, all profit handsomely from this kind of fourth generational warfare which is why it persists. The professional soldiers get to have their war, the professional criminals profit from the chaos war generates, the defense contractors and munitions makers profit by supplying the weapons, the mercenaries profit because they get a paycheck from the trade they enjoy and the terrorists get to have the fun of wrecking havoc. The bill of course is footed by the American taxpayer who at the end of the day is simply confused by the conflict.
The situation becomes harder and harder to control because so many non state actors are involved. The US government can’t stop its enemies or allies from growing opium or its so called employees at the embassy in Kabul from behaving like drunken frat boys. This simply isn’t our fathers’ or grandfathers’ war it’s something new and frightening.
We’re conditioned to think of war as a massive conflict with us on one side and the bad guys on the other. That’s the way it was in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It isn’t in this war, there’s no all inclusive ideology like Communism here, almost everybody in Iraq and Afghanistan is a good Muslim. The people trying to kill us are good Muslims but so are the people fighting by our side. The American soldier trained and indoctrinated to fight something World War II simply doesn’t know how to react.
It’s a new war for a new world, and we’re not prepared for it. The old rules don’t work anymore and the new rules haven’t been written yet. Until they are everybody is flying blind.
The United States government maybe loosing money on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but a lot of other people are profiting from them; defense contractors, professional mercenaries, professional soldiers, drug lords, warlords, terrorists, all profit handsomely from this kind of fourth generational warfare which is why it persists. The professional soldiers get to have their war, the professional criminals profit from the chaos war generates, the defense contractors and munitions makers profit by supplying the weapons, the mercenaries profit because they get a paycheck from the trade they enjoy and the terrorists get to have the fun of wrecking havoc. The bill of course is footed by the American taxpayer who at the end of the day is simply confused by the conflict.
The situation becomes harder and harder to control because so many non state actors are involved. The US government can’t stop its enemies or allies from growing opium or its so called employees at the embassy in Kabul from behaving like drunken frat boys. This simply isn’t our fathers’ or grandfathers’ war it’s something new and frightening.
We’re conditioned to think of war as a massive conflict with us on one side and the bad guys on the other. That’s the way it was in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. It isn’t in this war, there’s no all inclusive ideology like Communism here, almost everybody in Iraq and Afghanistan is a good Muslim. The people trying to kill us are good Muslims but so are the people fighting by our side. The American soldier trained and indoctrinated to fight something World War II simply doesn’t know how to react.
It’s a new war for a new world, and we’re not prepared for it. The old rules don’t work anymore and the new rules haven’t been written yet. Until they are everybody is flying blind.
posted by great one at 6:34 AM
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