Some would have us believe that there can never be a reason to go to war. Others portend that only a war in which we have no National Interest is one in which we should engage. And still others say we should only fight when we have an unparalled National Interest.
Some say we should never be involved in a civil war. Some say we should only be involved in peacekeeping, particularly in civil wars. Some say we should only fight after we've been attacked. And some say that attack must occur on our own soil before we should fight. And then there's the age old philosophical question: If we knew then what we know now, should we have assassinated Hitler, preventing World War II, before he took power?
Is it really war, if we only send flying robots to bomb specific mud huts? Or if only the enemy calls it war and we pretend it's just a common crime? Is it war if the enemy has a flag, and are still only fighting to get a nation, or an empire?
The decision to go to war should not be made lightly. It is a decision to have humans kill other humans, but that is sometimes the only way to save the lives of more humans. The ability to win a war rests on one fundamental principal: breaking the enemy's will to fight. There are many ways that may be accomplished, but to win a war, one must cause the enemy to choose to end the fight.
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