Battleangel

I really must concur with the anonymous movie producer that followed US troops in Kuwait. Hopefully there will be another “Black Hawk Down” scenario.
People die. So what? People die every day. The question is just whether this is a worthy cause. Worthier than being run over by a car for example. But hey, if you believe you are right, by all means, go ahead. Now .. for some irony …

I must point out how hollow it seems when you break the Geneva Convention one day and get outraged when the other side does the same thing. After skimming through the document it is apparent how difficult it is NOT to disrespect the agreement.
If everyone followed the Geneva Convention there would be no wars because everyone would be so knee-deep in bureaucracy that they couldn’t possibly get anything done. Just look at article 60 for example where it says that ..

“The Detaining Power shall grant all prisoners of war a monthly advance of pay, the amount of which shall be fixed by conversion, into the currency of the said Power, of the following amounts .. Prisoners ranking below sergeant: Eight (8) Swiss francs … -SNIP-”

So unless POWs get their eight Swiss francs you could say that the detaining nation is violating conventions of war. Anyone can see that this rapidly becomes a stupid argument. Especially for two nations that apparently defy international opinion and the United Nations. But hey … you can always play ball when it suits your purposes.

The dirtiest part of this war so far has certainly been the media front. It’s kind of disappointing that Iraqi sources time and again have been proven accurate, isn’t it? Not at all what you would expect. It all depends of what kind of experiences you have had with US intelligence in the past I suppose. If you have some skew image of the world where the US is the “good guys” and the other side is just “mad dogs” (courtesy of Ronald Reagan) then I suppose you swallow it hook, line and sinker.
Unless you know whats going on you can just as well SHUT UP. Unless you misguide people on purpose of course and aim to win the Pr battle. Still, to keep pumping the public full of lies can be dangerous when everyone is watching. You might end up looking really stupid and people might question your qualifications. At least the Iraqi government had the good sense to keep their mouths shut until they had some “good” news to report for sure.
It’s embarrassing to hear the US say that have control over Umm Qasr EIGHT TIMES in three days! Why say anything at all unless you are sure?! How daft do you have to be to keep to fill up the headlines with “victories” against abandoned vehicles. I promise you, even I could hit a stationary object with an Apache.
I feel that this has been a very mediocre war so far. I expected more “shock” and “awe”. I feel that the US should make good on their promise. If this was a war movie it would surely be a direct to video release, if you get my drift. Apart from shock and awe I also expected more detailed intelligence on the conflict. I mean, come one, most computer games are more advanced than this. I am not impressed so far! Both sides are shutting the media out to some extent but on the other hand I feel that the media is not doing enough. Whatever happened to the big “scoop”? Is investigative journalism dead or does it just go on vacation when there is a war? I think that the US has a responsibility to portray the war as accurately as possible, at least if they aspire to be one cut above the regime in Baghdad
Of course, I understand that unfavorable reports from the front lines will send the american economy as well as opinion spinning. And it has. The point is that if you worry about “dull” things like opinion and economy you probably shouldn’t have started the war in the first place. Wars are expensive. They take time. And people die. End of story.

Almost end of story at least. What is with all this “friendly fire” anyway? It’s quite an achievement to hit not only Iran and Syria but also Turkey. And not only hit their territories but also in fact kill people. That is impressive indeed.
Another thing that is slightly perplexing is why the US troops are so lightly armoured. And then there is the matter of how well defended thier re-supply lines are. None of this is of course an issue if you do not encounter any opposition. But why dress for sunshine when there could be rain?
And even if the Iraqi forces are run down, they should be able to muster a lot more than they have shown so far. About 250k (men) reach military age every year and before the last Gulf war they had the 3rd largest standing army in the world. Numbers CAN matter. At least since we are in for a ground war with both sides being lighly armoured. All in all this is boring me.

Conclusion: War shouldn’t be easy, or we might resort to it more often than we already do. Losses and setbacks might teach some people a dire lesson. Something good might come from this still …