The Horror... The Horror

War is awful. War is by definition just about the worst that mankind is capable of (though I do feel that some of the best in mankind has shined through the darkness of war). As a Christian, I hate going to war.

But I hate the consequences of not fighting some wars more than I hate war. As most of you probably know, I support the Iraq war. I know that most of America does not. I do not agree with everything about the war -- many of the policy decisions coming from the Bush administration have been erroneous. I'm still glad we made the decision to go to war, even though its much harder to go to war than to pretend there could be peace.

Most conservatives hate the comparison of the Iraq war to the Vietnam war. I do not, and I'm going to explain why.
The Korean war, the Vietnam war, and the Iraq war, while fought in totally different eras, locations and political circumstances have similar objectives. The Vietnam war was not, in my opinion a "mistake." However, it was a failure. It was largely a failure due to policy choices made by administrators (both military and governmental) who weren't staring down an AK-47 or a SAM battery.
The Korean war, on the other hand, was a total success. Anyone who thinks differently should look at the difference between the two Koreas today. South Korea exists only because America saved it from becoming North Korea.
What then, was the difference?

The Vietnam war is often termed the "TV War."
That's why we lost the war.
Americans don't like to see blood.
Again, as a Christian I don't like to see blood shed either. But we don't live in pixie-stick fairy tale land where nothing bad ever happens and we get free passes on hard decisions.

Please watch this clip so that you can better understand what I am talking about in the following paragraphs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5npYWfRlkw
It's the most famous part of Apocalypse Now, starring Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando.

War is awful, and you cannot clean it up. Brando explains that the Vietnamese were stronger than us because they were able to do terrible things without judgment. Our judgment defeats us. What does this mean? Well, it means that the United States would never intentionally maim the children of a village (nor am I advocating that we do), but that our enemies are more than willing to decapitate US soldiers with a saw. It's hard to win in that scenario. It gets even harder to win when we lose the fortitude to fight a war because we don't like to see young men die.
Please note: I am categorically NOT advocating that the US commit war crimes.
I am advocating that you let some brave young men and women do their job, even if their job is to make a friend out of horror.

The good thing, to this point anyway, is that we have a commander in chief who has a strong enough will to stick out the really, really hard times. We have someone with a strong enough will to do the right thing, no matter how painful. That's part of the reason I'm a pretty big fan of Dubya.

Last and most controversial point...
Going back to what I said about Americans not liking blood:
News outlets know this. CBS's "Tonight's Hero" or whatever is designed to get that emotion out of you. They have an agenda, and their playing very dirty to get what they want. They know America doesn't want to see the face of a dead young American (and neither do I.) They aren't showing this because the person is a hero (which they are -- these people ARE heroes) but to get that emotional response from you... to make the war less popular... to end the war.

And the American press/media (especially CBS) is liberal, facts are facts:
http://www.politicalgateway.com/main/columns/read.html?col=486

And don't forget that 90% of American Journalists' campaign donations go to Democrats.

The Horror of that... The Horror...

Beware the Ides of Posts

So, I'm pretty much sucking in terms of churning out posts. It's a good thing my career won't involve doing a lot of things on a schedule, like being a doctor or anything like that.

Things have changed.

The weather for one.
You see, the fall has finally hit our beautiful area. Previously, it was hot beyond all sanity. It was super-villain hot. The arch-evil Heat, and his partner in crime Humidity wreaked havoc on our fair city. However, with the help of our super-hero Air Conditioning (and his wimpy, possibly gay sidekick -- Fan) we were able to survive the summer.

My brother's marital status for another.
The wedding was B-E-A-utiful and I had a wonderful time. There are some pictures both great and terrible. My brother is now back from Hawaii and he and his bride had a great time there. I'm happy for him. Unfortunately his wedding put me at somewhat of a disadvantage for my last exam. I passed, but still feel I did quite poorly. This means that...

My studying habits have changed.
I'm now in class or studying about 12 hours a weekday, and about 8 hours on Sunday. I manage about two hours of actual work on Saturday. For those of you who are not mathematicians, that's about 70 a week. That's a lot of learning.

So that's the latest update, a whole bunch of Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes, as one David Bowie would put it.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

I like David Bowie. You shut up.

My next post, if and when I get the time/effort to do it, will concern:
War
How war changed in the 20th century
How I feel this relates to our current situations: in Iraq, against Terror, and at home

I will be doing all of this based on what I have taken from "Apocalypse Now," one of the best war movies ever made.