War has gone on throughout the history of man. Even the pre-historic tribes running around in animal skins wielding only a rock or sharpened stick fought. It has been ritualized at times, has had rules applied to it in vain attempts to make it somehow less destructive, more civilized, but in the end, each participant group has ended up committing atrocities against their opponants. It is the inevitable part of war.
War is, at times, necessary, but it is never glorious. I enjoy playing wargames, but then, every game is, in it's way, a variation on a wargame of some sort. Even checkers is a contest of strategy and tactics with the goal of gaining the win. Armies wear pretty uniforms, and look resplendant in formation, but their job is a very simple one. The ultimate job of an army at war is to kill people and break things. That sounds like a joke, but it is the basic truth.
The nature of war has changed. There was a time when armies met at an agreed upon place at a pre-arranged time, and engaged in battle, and civilian casualties were kept to a minimum. In some battles, civilians would even come to watch the big show. Now, war can not help but involve civilians, even with "smart" weapons. The technology of killing has grown too long range and indiscriminate for this to be avoided.
The method of war has not changed though. The whole idea of weapons is to either poke holes in a person so that the victim will leak his or her life away, or to bludgeon or poison his or her body to the point that it ceases to function. A bullet is simply a man made rock thrown faster and more accurately than was possible before the invention of the gun. A bomb is simply a way of throwing a lot of man made rocks in all directions from a point where the thrower can not stand.
The problem is that every person killed was someone's son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, friend, etc, etc, etc. In every war, the propogandists work very hard to portray the enemy as somehow less than human, and therefore, ease the conscience of the public and keep the war as popular as possible. As the technology to disseminate information quickly and accurately has improved, this has become harder to do. The enemy, even though an enemy, IS still human, and has all the same emotions, relationships, etc, that any human has. This page is not for the warriors, but for the innocent victims of war.
War is not glorious. War is the greatest tragedy mankind has ever known.
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