Back to work

I had a fun two weeks in Scotland. Anyone who is considering going there, you can take this to be my recommendation to go. However, I did not have much luck with finding a good travel book. I must have read 4 or 5 books looking for places to stop. The result is that some of the places I planned to stop at were no good, and some of the places I made no prior plans to stop at but did anyway were great.

I saw two movies Saturday. Troy and The Last Samurai. Both movies extol battle and war. I think the concept of war is extremely interesting, although I'm not trying to glorify it in any way.

The first time I was convinced that I would be ok killing someone for my country was when I watched Saving Private Ryan. There's a scene where a German kills an American while his American friend is too scared to defend him. That scene absolutely floored me. Until then, I was troubled by the thought killing someone that I believed had the right to live. A soldier's choice is little more black and white though. They kill and are killed because they are defending their country. But sometimes it simply comes down to defending your friend from your enemy.

It's true that both have a right to live. And it's true that there will always be people on the battlefield who are uncertain about whether or not they believe in the cause. But I think the most compelling reason to do battle, is that you know your friends are going to die and that you might be able to save some of them. I cannot argue with anyone who chooses to kill in order to defend themselves or their friends.

Still the question of why nations go to war is critical. Once they are at war, it is simple to see why they kill each other. But why do they go to war at all? Assuming the nations have equally capable men and arms, the nation that goes to war for the better reason is more likely to be the nation that will win. For example, let's say prior to the war both nations are happy but one wants the other's valuable resources. When they go to war, the reason for one nation is simply to get more resources and the reason for the other is simply to keep what it already has. The more compelling reason lie with the nation that is defending itself. And this resonates with the soldiers on the field of battle.

I believe that leaders of nations need to understand this situation. In order to have the best chance of winning (and the least loss of life), leaders must clearly communicate why they choose to go to war. Any confusion or gray area in the choice will result in loss of life and possibly of the war.

The Spanish American War, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. These are wars that were chosen for uncertain reasons. These are the wars that leave black marks on the soul of our nation. If this nation is to remain strong, we need to choose our wars more carefully in the future.