There's a great quote by the once-governor (and wrestler) Jesse Ventura - "America has practised terrorism for over 50 years, we just call it foreign policy." America does have the largest army in the world too, which is crazy with the disparity in casualties. In the first Gulf War, Iraq suffered 150,000 casualties. And the US? 79.
150k to 79? Sounds like good news to me. You fight wars to win them not so you can feel like you had a fair fight. Overwhelming force makes wars quicker which reduces civilian deaths. Our present problem is we're doing too much counterinsurgency and nationbuilding. The actual takedown of Saddam's army only took a few months. If you're going to go to war your aim should be to end it as swiftly and decisively as possible or never go in the first place. As to your stance on weather the war was justified or neccesary, that is your right, my only point is it exists independent of the notion that once you go to war you want to deliver a defeat as swiftly as possible, for the sake of both sides.
Even now, in the UK parliament, each time a soldier is killed in action, each name is read out during Prime Minister's Questions. They obviously can't do that to the thousands more lost on the opposing side, in any medium - another faceless enemy as far as we are concerned. With the rise of IEDs and suicide bombings, the longer this war drags on the more casualties will occur, but it will not be the army which suffers the majority, or the people they oppose - it will be the regular citizens, stuck between a rock and a hard place.
IEDs and suicide bombings are done by cowards aiming to maximize collateral damage toward the citizenry (usually their own!). The US military gains nothing by shooting random civilians, in fact the rules of engagement we have over there are insane. They can't even defend themselves until after they get shot at.
Now to the rest of the thread at large:
As far as propaganda, the left has done a better number on that then the US government. I wonder if anyone can point to me to "brown people we've napalmed." Napalm was banned a long time ago, after WWI if I recall correctly. Moreover the US Military wouldn't use it because it's so stupidly ineffective compared to our other weapons. Napalm and chem weapons were the kind of stuff Saddam was keeping in his bunkers and they found tons of the stuff from when he was gassing the Kurds. But hey "The US Military are dogs who bomb brown people" is good propaganda so there's always somebody willing to suck it up like a sponge.
Just some news for anyone who thinks our military exists solely for killing; When Indonesia had that massive tsunami and when Haiti had that devastating earthquake we sent aircraft carriers down there. Not to finish off the brown people the anti-military propagandists are so obsessed with (never having met one, usually), but because aircraft carriers are basically a mobile power plant that can supply large quantities of power for emergency services onshore. They can also send out rescue helicopters that can reach inaccessible areas. Btw. they also have large capacity for food, water, and supplies storage. Did I mention we have enough of them where we can rotate them out to create an uninterrupted continuous supply stream? Forget UPS, The United States Navy is Logistics.
So in point of fact Mr. Assange probably thinks he's a hero, and I have no real problem with him leaking documents in this matter that are mostly going to provide proof that war isn't a simple matter of military = always bad and anti-military = always good. That will be what some people pull from it because that's been their cause celebre all along.
In the meantime the documents do show that just being "brown people" doesn't make you a moral exemplar or a helpless victim. Plenty of stuff the Iraqi police did to their own people was deplorable, but none of that has anything to do with profit or oil or whatever garbage is being generated as a pretext. There is no moral high ground in simply not being an American.
btw. how is that "war boosting the economy thing" going? Things are great here in the 'ol USA. We've got 2 wars going on and as of January 21st 2009 we had Democrats in control of the Executive Branch with a Supermajority in the Legislative Branch. I'm just loving this economy run by "the adults," as they call themselves. Aren't you?
These leaks have nothing to do with "bombing brown people" or "boosting the economy" or "wealthy businessmen not liking the truth." And your neighbors are supposed to be the stupid ones? Give me a break.
