So George Washington was a terrorist…
http://www.americannewsreel.com/artman/publish/article_62.shtml
Forgetting the lessons of history
By DOUG THOMPSON
Mar 27, 2003, 00:23
General George Washington
Let’s go back 227 years. A small army, hopelessly outnumbered when faced with a superior force, turns to unconventional tactics, ignoring the “rules of engagement” that had defined war throughout “civilized” society. Those rules called for soldiers to march forward in straight lines, stop, fire their muskets, reload, and march forward again.
But the leader of the opposition, a General named George Washington with his first command, remembered lessons he learned in the French-Indian war – that a small band of determined fighters shooting from cover or engaging in “hit and run” ambushes could both disorient the much larger and better supplied enemy. The tactics worked and the outnumbered revolutionary army defeated the massive forces of Great Britain. The British General would later complain that they lost the war because Washington’s army “were savages that ignored the rules of civilized conflict.”
Flash forward 227 years. Now we’re the big guys, the ones who think war should be fought by the rules, the ones who get up in front of the press and complain that the enemy is cheating because he is trying anything to win.
The Iraqis, we complain, are dressing as civilians and ambushing American and British forces. One of the events that led to the start of the revolutionary war was a little shindig called the Boston Tea Party where the soon-to-be American revolutionaries dressed up as Indians and raided a boatload of tea in the Boston Harbor. We complain that the Iraqis have ambushed our soldiers after waving the white flag of surrender. On March 3, 1779, the Continental Army at Briar Creek, Georgia, waved the white flag to British troops and then attacked. The British were not fooled because the same tactic had been used before and the revolutionaries lost the battle. The war would drag on for two more long years.
Now before you start waving the American flag and scream “how can you dare compare the American fight for freedom in 1776 with a dictator like Saddam Hussein,” let’s remember that we are talking about war. War is not a diplomatic discussion across a table. War is fighting and killing and destruction. War means one side wins and the other loses. We are calling our invasion of Iraq “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” and say we are liberating the Iraqis from a murderous dictator. While our cause may be just, not everyone agrees with us, especially a greater than expected number of Iraqis who feel it is a just cause to fight and die for their country.
The American Revolutionary war changed how future wars would be fought. Most wars do that. ** The Geneva Convention that determines how prisoners of war should be treated followed World War II. Since the rules went into force on October 21, 1950, there have been more than 5,000 complaints filed for violations of the convention – 1,229 of them against the United States for issues related mostly to the wars in Korea and Vietnam.
So let’s forget, if we can, the politics of war with Iraq. Historically, America has gotten into trouble with wars where our military leaders underestimate the will and desire of the enemy. We did it in Korea and repeated the mistake in Vietnam. ** In both conflicts, we faced an enemy that didn’t give a damn about the “rules of engagement” and who fought war on their terms. A week ago, we launched an invasion of Iraq with predictions of a quick victory against an enemy that we were sure would roll over and play dead, numbed into submission by “shock and awe” bombing campaigns and the swift advance of a superior force.
** But our military planners forgot we are also facing an enemy who, in their minds, are defending their homeland against an invader. Saddam Hussein may be a ruthless dictator but he is their ruthless dictator and we underestimated the number of Iraqi soldiers who are willing to fight.
Yes, the Iraqis are forgetting the rules of war. But we are forgetting the lessons of history. **
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