Horrors of War
08/07/23 03:53
I am not a politician. I have jokingly said, on several occasions, that I could never be the President of the United States because I simply am not qualified. It is a joke because no one has proposed that I become the President, I have never run for political office beyond positions on the boards of nonprofit corporations, and I have no financial backers willing to invest big money in my candidacy. I am not qualified because the President of the United States is the Commander in Chief of the United States military and I lack the background to command troops in battle.
I don’t understand the ways of war.
I have felt that it is important for the United States to support Ukraine in their war of defense against invasion by Russia. the story of small countries being dominated by super powers is at least thousands of years old. The book of the prophet Isaiah is in part the story of tiny Judah and Jerusalem caught between super powers. Assyria threatens from the north. The king attempts to enter into a treaty with Egypt and Ethiopia for protection. The northern kingdom has already fallen and Jerusalem is vulnerable. Then, probably as the result of a plague of infectious disease, Assyria’s army is unable to attack. But Judah and Jerusalem are not out of trouble. Eventually they are conquered by Babylon. The city is destroyed and the leadership class are carried off into exile in Babylon. For a while it appears that all is lost, but Babylon is also militarily vulnerable. Finally, after more battles and wars of powers much greater than tiny Judah, the Persians gain the upper hand and Cyrus, king of Persia, allows the return of the exiles to Jerusalem.
I have no idea how many soldiers died in all of those battles, but it appears that there were many casualties. I don’t know how many civilians died, but it seems that there are always civilian casualties in war.
Autocratic leaders often start wars to divert attention from failed domestic policy. Nothing rallies people like an enemy whether perceived or real. Putin has exploited public opinion in Russia by portraying the legitimately elected government of Ukraine as oppressive to Russian nationals who live in that country. He used Russia’s resources to back a few insurgents in Ukraine and when that was unsuccessful he opened the conflict to full scale ware and eventually to an invasion intent on seizing the territory of Ukraine and eliminating its self governance.
The international community, especially western European and American governments, have come to the defense of Ukraine. Stories of the bravery of Ukrainian troops in the face of the better financed and equipped Russian troops have circulated around the globe. Nation after nation has declared support for Ukraine and its forces as they resist the Russian invasion.
Remembering that I am no expert in military matters, it has made sense to me that the government of the United States would be on the side of Ukraine in this conflict. Providing military training and sending weapons and other supports to Ukraine seemed to make sense in the light of Russia’s aggression. History has demonstrated that despots and bullies cannot be allowed to run roughshod over more vulnerable countries.
However, I believe that there must be limits in war. Humans have developed weapons that are far too destructive to be employed regardless of the validity of their cause. Nuclear and chemical weapons indiscriminately kill innocents. The size of their destruction is so large that they pose a threat not only to enemies, but to the survival of humanity on this planet. For decades the world’s super powers have brandished their capability to destroy all life as we know it in a dangerous form of gamesmanship in which the weapons and their capacity to destroy are employed as deterrents. The consequences of the actual use of nuclear weapons are far to devastating to imagine.
There are other weapons of war that are incredibly dangerous and that have terrible effects upon innocent bystanders caught up in war. On such class of weapons are cluster bombs. These weapons are based on a large munition that contains large numbers of smaller explosives or bomblets. These bomblets are released mid-flight from the larger artillery shell or rocket and scatter over a wide area causing multiple explosions. Not all of the bomblets explode immediately, however. Some fall onto soft ground where they can remain unexploded for a long time. This makes the weapons effective in routing entrenched combatants, rendering their defensive positions dangerous for a long period of time. Different cluster weapons have different rates of scattering unexploded bomblets.
Cluster munitions are already being used in the War in Ukraine. Russia has employed such munitions that have a high rate of unexploded bomblets. Some analysts have reported that as many as 30% of the bomblets remain unexploded where they will be found by civilians, including children, decades after the war’s end. US manufactured cluster weapons have a much lower rate of unexploded bomblets, perhaps as low as 2%. Regardless of the statistics, all cluster weapons leave the possibility of killing explosions after troops have left the battlefield. The use of cluster munitions has been banned by a treaty signed by more than 100 countries. Our country is not one of the signers of the treaty. Cluster munitions are part of the inventory of the United States military.
Now our President has announced that these controversial weapons will be supplied to troops in Ukraine. It is a terrible choice. Presidents often are faced with awful choices. I am not qualified to say whether the terrible effects of the use of the munitions that will last for decades are justified by the current military realities. I simply know that I would not have authorized the use of such weapons under any circumstances. It is one of the reasons I am not qualified to be President. I simply am incapable of taking responsibility for such a decision.
The debate over the use of cluster munitions will continue as long as nations manufacture those weapons in a world that already has too many weapons. There has to be a better way, but I don’t know what that way might be. Our failure to imagine a better way has a legacy of death and destruction that will continue for many years to come.
I don’t understand the ways of war.
I have felt that it is important for the United States to support Ukraine in their war of defense against invasion by Russia. the story of small countries being dominated by super powers is at least thousands of years old. The book of the prophet Isaiah is in part the story of tiny Judah and Jerusalem caught between super powers. Assyria threatens from the north. The king attempts to enter into a treaty with Egypt and Ethiopia for protection. The northern kingdom has already fallen and Jerusalem is vulnerable. Then, probably as the result of a plague of infectious disease, Assyria’s army is unable to attack. But Judah and Jerusalem are not out of trouble. Eventually they are conquered by Babylon. The city is destroyed and the leadership class are carried off into exile in Babylon. For a while it appears that all is lost, but Babylon is also militarily vulnerable. Finally, after more battles and wars of powers much greater than tiny Judah, the Persians gain the upper hand and Cyrus, king of Persia, allows the return of the exiles to Jerusalem.
I have no idea how many soldiers died in all of those battles, but it appears that there were many casualties. I don’t know how many civilians died, but it seems that there are always civilian casualties in war.
Autocratic leaders often start wars to divert attention from failed domestic policy. Nothing rallies people like an enemy whether perceived or real. Putin has exploited public opinion in Russia by portraying the legitimately elected government of Ukraine as oppressive to Russian nationals who live in that country. He used Russia’s resources to back a few insurgents in Ukraine and when that was unsuccessful he opened the conflict to full scale ware and eventually to an invasion intent on seizing the territory of Ukraine and eliminating its self governance.
The international community, especially western European and American governments, have come to the defense of Ukraine. Stories of the bravery of Ukrainian troops in the face of the better financed and equipped Russian troops have circulated around the globe. Nation after nation has declared support for Ukraine and its forces as they resist the Russian invasion.
Remembering that I am no expert in military matters, it has made sense to me that the government of the United States would be on the side of Ukraine in this conflict. Providing military training and sending weapons and other supports to Ukraine seemed to make sense in the light of Russia’s aggression. History has demonstrated that despots and bullies cannot be allowed to run roughshod over more vulnerable countries.
However, I believe that there must be limits in war. Humans have developed weapons that are far too destructive to be employed regardless of the validity of their cause. Nuclear and chemical weapons indiscriminately kill innocents. The size of their destruction is so large that they pose a threat not only to enemies, but to the survival of humanity on this planet. For decades the world’s super powers have brandished their capability to destroy all life as we know it in a dangerous form of gamesmanship in which the weapons and their capacity to destroy are employed as deterrents. The consequences of the actual use of nuclear weapons are far to devastating to imagine.
There are other weapons of war that are incredibly dangerous and that have terrible effects upon innocent bystanders caught up in war. On such class of weapons are cluster bombs. These weapons are based on a large munition that contains large numbers of smaller explosives or bomblets. These bomblets are released mid-flight from the larger artillery shell or rocket and scatter over a wide area causing multiple explosions. Not all of the bomblets explode immediately, however. Some fall onto soft ground where they can remain unexploded for a long time. This makes the weapons effective in routing entrenched combatants, rendering their defensive positions dangerous for a long period of time. Different cluster weapons have different rates of scattering unexploded bomblets.
Cluster munitions are already being used in the War in Ukraine. Russia has employed such munitions that have a high rate of unexploded bomblets. Some analysts have reported that as many as 30% of the bomblets remain unexploded where they will be found by civilians, including children, decades after the war’s end. US manufactured cluster weapons have a much lower rate of unexploded bomblets, perhaps as low as 2%. Regardless of the statistics, all cluster weapons leave the possibility of killing explosions after troops have left the battlefield. The use of cluster munitions has been banned by a treaty signed by more than 100 countries. Our country is not one of the signers of the treaty. Cluster munitions are part of the inventory of the United States military.
Now our President has announced that these controversial weapons will be supplied to troops in Ukraine. It is a terrible choice. Presidents often are faced with awful choices. I am not qualified to say whether the terrible effects of the use of the munitions that will last for decades are justified by the current military realities. I simply know that I would not have authorized the use of such weapons under any circumstances. It is one of the reasons I am not qualified to be President. I simply am incapable of taking responsibility for such a decision.
The debate over the use of cluster munitions will continue as long as nations manufacture those weapons in a world that already has too many weapons. There has to be a better way, but I don’t know what that way might be. Our failure to imagine a better way has a legacy of death and destruction that will continue for many years to come.
