War 031112

SHOCKED and AWED, now what?

War began with the dinosaurs and has been evolving ever since.  There have been some constants like lots of blood and the military industrial complex (MIC). Cavemen threw stones until their MIC sold clubs for faster blood letting.  Dino-battle was about food and survival but evolution produced man, civilization and just war.  This higher order saw war as a power game often engaged in for pure entertainment for the powerful the unenlightened victims however selfishly still saw it as a matter of survival.

The goal was loot, territory, ideology or subjugation of neighbors. Measures of glory were based on the “butchers bill” the number of dead left on the battlefield.  It was a point of honor for generals to lose more soldiers than the enemy as an indication of greatness of their victory over a superior force.  Of course spinning the body count obscured incompetence, besides the generals could grow rich on the back pay of dead heroes.  The MICs learned early how to create markets through arms against armor competitions.  The merchants of death always had new toys that would guarantee victory in the next game.  There was always a next campaign for war was seldom decisive, battles being fought between spring planting and the fall harvest.  Although not decisive, war was extremely brutal and costly. 

As the social order became more complex kings devised a set of rules for the conduct of warfare.  Military theories became formalized and philosophies emerged to justify war.  The German Clausewitz coined the phrase “total war” meaning a nation must sacrifice in a total commitment to victory.  An American, Phil Sheridan, redefined the term as total destruction of an enemy people by any means.   His interpretation led to the world's most destructive century, which left runaway MICs intent on producing even more destructive toys for generals.

Toys are to be played with but the world couldn't survive another great power conflict.  The MICs colluded to play with their new toys on a series of surrogate battlefields.  With the temporary collapse of the great power paradigm the MICs were in danger of losing their markets.  The generals looked at their great pile of rusting toys, envisioned the MICs shinning new creations and devised new strategies.  There was a shortage of viable enemies so designate a bad guy, demonize his intent, and stage a preemptive strike with shock and awe.   Shock and Awe allowed the generals to dump all their old toys on the demon at once, making room for the shiny new technologies at the same time.  The difficulty is that the demon is destroyed the social order devastated and the generals are left with a new toys that quickly rust.

The generals declare victory, leave instability in a failing state and create new demons to shock and awe for continuation of their gory quest for glory.  There are no just wars, only justified wars that allow armies to destroy without accountability but leaving a legacy of hostility and distrust.  It is the nature of power than when you have it, you will be an arrogant bully but when power declines its legacy returns to haunt.