From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!nsisrv!kong!dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov!olson Wed Sep 23 16:54:21 EDT 1992
Article 6971 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: olson@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov (Paul Olson)
Subject: Re: 21st Century Soldier
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References: <11SEP199211572401@dstl86.gsfc.nasa.gov> <FeaZqB5w164w@underg.UUCP> <1992Sep12.191204.1026@ariel.ec.usf.edu> <1992Sep17.135131.21405@cas.org>
Date: 18 Sep 1992 08:55 EST  
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In article <1992Sep17.135131.21405@cas.org>, sdr57@cas.org () writes...
>In article <1992Sep12.191204.1026@ariel.ec.usf.edu> mccolm@darwin.math.usf.edu. (Gregory McColm) writes:
>>
>>There is this fantasy that wars are different from politics,
>>and if only we could keep those damn politicians out, we
>>could win wars.
> 
>Wars are, in their execution, very different from politics.
>The conduct of a war bears little resemblence in its
>practical aspects to anything a politician, concerned with
>the nuances of law and the details of relationships between
>governments, would reasonably encounter. To suggest that
>politicians should conduct the wars they decide on places
>a great burden on one person, requiring that that person
>be conversent with the skills of the soldier as well as those
>of politics. Consider other examples - should the politicians
>who order the collection of taxes be intimately involved in
>their collection? Should your senator do the auditing or
>should that be left to people with accounting training?
>And if the congress passes a health care bill, does that
>mean your representative should perform your surgery?
>The argument that the military should be allowed to conduct
>wars is the same as the argument that surgeons should be
>allowed to perform surgery - let the people with the
>training for it do the job.
> 
>Politicians are the ones (in the United States, at least) who
>decide when and why we fight. This is part of their job.
>In Viet Nam, the politicians failed by not giving us clear
>objectives - they decided the when but not the why - and so
>the conditions for victory became slippery. The military
>failed also - not in the fighting, but in failing to get
>the politicians to define the goals clearly enough so
>that the military could tell the politicians whether or not
>their goals were attainable.
> 

You missed the point.  The fact is that waging war is an extension of the
policies of the state.  That is why our armies, navies, etc. "project power" to
other portions of the world.  It isn't for defense of our borders.  Politics
will _always_ be the major factor in war.

Dr. Forbin


