[CLUE-Talk] Going to war, how much to pay people

[Kevin Cullis]

Matt,


On Thu, 2003-01-30 at 17:51, Matt Gushee wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 10:50:47PM -0700, Kevin Cullis wrote:
> > 
> > As a suggestion for future consideration of this list, please do NOT
> > criticize the troops for what they do, only criticize Congress and the
> > President.
> 
> Well, I'm not going to criticize the troops--I completely agree that
> they deserve our respect and gratitude, even if we disagree with the
> policies that direct their efforts--but I can't endorse your call to
> suppress such criticism. That's why we have the First Amendment: so that

I was being very careful to point out the problems of the past: Viet Nam
and calling our troops "baby killers" when in fact it was the tactics of
the enemy to send in kids with hand grenades against our troops.

Or, let's put it into perspective: if were at war with Iraq and I walked
into CLUE with my uniform on (and was active duty again), what would you
do or say to me?  Would you begin name calling or snide remarks?  Or
would you carry on an adult conversation?

Or, in other words, do you criticize the system administrator for lousy
PHB decisions?  Shoot for the root cause of the issue, not those that
follow what they've been told to do.

> people can express unpopular views without fear of reprisal. I think
> this list is populated with some very intelligent people, and if someone
> chooses to critize our men and women in uniform, they will be ignored by
> most, and if necessary they will be capably rebutted by people like you.
> Where's the problem?

I'm in essence trying to point out the problems that occured during and
after the Viet Nam conflict and providing a solution.

> 
> > But once a conflict or war begins, do NOT back down from the
> > support or convice Congress/President to have a good exit strategy of
> > any conflict.
> 
> I'm not sure what you are trying to say here.

Again, during the Viet Nam conflict Americans criticized the troops once
they came home for decisions that were made at the top of the chain. 
The key issue here is once the "trigger" is pulled, hopefully the
decision is made to make is short and sweet and not drag on with "just
enough" effort to make it drag on.  The longer it drags on the more
distrustful people will get.  In other words: don't go to war
half-assed!!  Go all the way, quickly and decisively!!

Most active duty DO NOT want to go to war, but if they do, they want it
over quickly!!

Any better?

-- 
Kevin Cullis <kevincu at orci.com>