Thanks, CL, for an uplifting post. It gives me the courage to post my own thoughts.

Those thoughts always drift to two books by David Drake, specifically At Any Price and Rolling Hot.

These books are part of Mr. Drake’s Hammer Slammers series. The Slammers are a mercenary armor regiment in the 30th Century and Mr. Drake writes them well because of his year in country in Vietnam.

In At Any Price the Slammers are hired to back up the locals in a human colony in their conflict with the natives. The war looks to be going on forever due to the fact that the human army leaders are incompetent and the natives can teleport.

One of the central characters is appointed by his uncle to lead the army, and he does well. The natives agree to a peace treaty. But when the uncle comes to sign it he makes it clear that there will be no peace because as long as the war goes on the uncle will have complete control of the nation.

Rolling Hot is about a scratch crew of Slammers who have to make an opposed night march to reinforce a local city in the middle of a ‘Tet Offensive’. A local hitches a ride with the Slammers.

At one point in the book the local and the Slammers are discussing the politics that lead to this situation. One of the Slammers cuts off the conversation by saying, “Most people just want the shooting to stop. That’s the way it always is.”

These scenes sum up my thoughts on the Israel/Palestine situation. There are too many people who think that as long as the conflict endures they will have power, and most people just want the shooting to stop.