Name:   MrHodja - Subject:   Morphing of Warfare Revolutionary War til Now Date:   12/9/2014 10:51:28 PM (updated 12/9/2014 10:53:30 PM)

This may end up under Hound's post but is aimed at all forum readers...

During the Revolutionary War the Briish often fought IAW the accepted norm for the day.....lined up neatly in row after row out in the open.  The American Revolutionaries didn't follow that paradigm, but hid behind trees, in bushes, or wherever that would get them maximum effect with minimum collateral damage.

During Viet Nam, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong used tunnels, sappers, and other methods that went beyond "accepted" and/or "expected" methods of fighting.

Now, the enemy of the Untied States has once again changed the "rules" of warfare by involving civilian populations, suicide bombers, beheadings of innocent aid workers, and so forth that we find abhorrent.

Unfortunately we are being faced with an ethical dilemma.  Do we maintain adherence to, until now, accepted norms of behavior in our fight or do we respond in kind?

What value does a "moral" or "ethical" society have if it ceases to exist because it was destroyed by an "amoral" or "unethical" enemy?  How do we reconcile the current brouhaha about "torture" while we use drones to do far more damage (i.e., kill) to our enemies...and at the same time kill innocent civiians who just happened to be in the way?

My opinion is that we do what we have to do to protect our society and way of life. Sometimes we might even have to be the one "pushing the envelope" if it means we minimize future damage or loss of life.  Bottom line is if it is "us" or "them", we must do what we have to do.