We've Become Awfully Soft

This past weekend thirty some odd Americans, some of them Navy Seals, lost their lives during an action in Afghanistan. All the Americans, were killed while riding in a Chinook helicopter after an action against the Taliban. The educated guess is that the kill shot was via RPG. In fact, some of those in the know say that it was a lucky shot.
Needless to say, we here at the Manor mourn the loss of lives of the National Guard pilots, the Air Force combat directors and the Navy Seals.
The various news organizations have claimed that the incident is the greatest loss of American lives in Afghanistan and are wringing their hands over the incident. They hold the opinion that the loss of life should result in a withdrawal from Afghanistan and that the incident is the worst loss of life in American history.
Let's face the true facts. This incident, while tragic for the families and the comrades, is, historically negligible. The daily loss of American soldiers during the Civil War was much higher. The daily loss of Americans during World War One was higher. The loss of soldiers during the Tawara, Saipan or D-Day landings were all about ten times higher.
War is a bad thing and men die. It seems that the news organizations now think that only the enemy die. But the enemy gets to shoot back. That means that some of our men will die. But the strange thing is that when our guys kill the bad guys we are supposed to feel guilty. How can a warrior win?
The way the Afghan War is waged is all bulls**t. The press wants a clean war like that of 500 BC Greece (no civilians involved). But those days are long gone. The enemy uses civilians as cover and has done so since before World War One.
Modern warfare, in the American and NATO style, has prevented the killing of civilians supporting the enemy. Be it known that the supporters of enemy fighters are really part of the enemy.
But the news orgs seem to think that the West, and especially the Americans, fight with one and a half hands tied behind their backs. The Taliban and Al--Queda can kill innocent men, women and children with impunity while the West is expect to hold to the Marquess of Queensbury rules.
It's all a one way street with the popular media. Any death is bad. In fact, death is bad, which it is. But one has to ask CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and MSNBC what is the cost of defending the Western and Christian world? Apparently nothing. The Taliban for that crowd of clowns, equals evangelical Christians and Al-Queda seems to equal the Roman Catholic Church.
An interesting thing is that some news talkers have actually asked the question, " Are the Navy Seals receiving grief counseling so they can grieve for their comrades?" The answer4 is that the Seals, Air Force men and Soldiers have grief counselling. It's called a bullet for the enemy.
We are at a low level war. A war that politicians are not willing to invest their children, but a good and just war nonetheless. As is usual, the upper classes call for war to be fought by the middle and working classes while they save their dear ones to rule in the future. It's all pretty crappy. But life IS pretty crappy. Just remember, at voting time, that one should hold one's representative responsible and ask the question as to whether or not the representative has made a blood investment. If he or she hasn't, f**k 'em.