re: #1021 aussieroddy

Regarding civilain deaths, I always refer to a good quote from General William Tecumseh Sherman:

“War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”

Another good quote:

“If the people raise a great howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking.”

And:

“Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.”

Good old Sherman would have hated the MSM, here’s what he said about newspaper men:

“I hate newspapermen… I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast.”

What do you guys think? Am I wrong to think that the more terrible this war is, the quicker it will be over? Or should the IDF actively try to reduce civilian deaths, potentially allowing Hamas to continue their rocket fire?

I see a need for a middle ground. Yes, the IDF is right to make this fight painful for civilians in Gaza. They need to learn that if you are always calling for war with someone, you may get a war you can’t handle. On the other hand, the IDF does need to avoid actually killing civilians in order to keep their PR problems to a manageable level. I would say that they are getting things as right as they can this time.