- 1. People tend to die when bombs are
dropped on them. The majority of victims in urban warfare are innocent
and have little or no say in the policy of their government, while massive
injuries---burns and amputations---rarely heal, leaving victims scarred
and embittered for life.
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- 2. Wrecked infrastructure requires rebuilding,
which requires money that is extorted from the earnings of the average
(bombed) citizen rather than their more culpable leaders.
-
- 3. Countries under attack tend to pull
together not apart. Dictators and despots simply enact more, not less,
draconian or dictatorial measures.
-
- 4. Radioactive fallout is not restricted
to the immediate area but commingles with the toxic soup already circling
the globe and remains poisonous for oh, hundreds if not thousands of years.
-
- 5. The men, money and materials required
to attack an enemy is stolen from both the victim and vanquished and goes
into the pocket of those who endorse the war but risk nothing.
-
- 6. Few wars remain within a strict geographic
boundary but spread outward unpredictably. Tehran today, Tel Aviv tomorrow;
Kuwait, Korea or Manhattan tomorrow?
-
- 7. The law of supply and demand during
wartime: Products become scarce, pricey or unavailable. Gasoline at $5
or $10 anyone---or simply unavailable?
-
- 8. All modern economies depend on the
steady, uninterrupted supply of oil. Not a single job today, from fast
food to farming to manufacturing could survive for long the stoppage of
oil. Can you say Great Depression II?
-
- 9. An enemy attacked tends to counter-attack.
The loss of what number of Americans-not Iranians--is considered acceptable
for the mission to be considered a success?
-
- 10. Revolutions happen for lesser reasons.
Out of work, out of gas, out of money-and soon to be evicted; citizens
who once supported the idea of a war may suddenly react to the harsh reality.
How long could the architects of war expect to pacify the disgruntled subjects
here at home?
-
- USAF veteran and amateur strategist,
Douglas Herman writes for Rense and is the author of The Guns of Dallas
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