[Mr 5 0]

srv1:

War is bad. Got it. I think we all figured that out somewhere around first grade.

You clearly put some effort in making a visual point that, what...war kills people and causes misery? I think we all know that.

Although I can appreciate your revulsion for killing and war in general but frankly that's akin to being against poverty or racism. Who isn't? Obvious and also meaningless on the surface unless you're prepared to back it up in some way.

No one here ever claimed war is 'good' or 'right', but it is inevitable and September 11th proved that there is real evil in the world, the U.S. is not exempt from having death and destruction visited on us by those who hate us and we must be prepared to defend ourselves and strike back to rid ourselves of this danger from those who would destroy us.

That people cheer our war victories is perfectly normal; we're cheering defeat of those who would destroy us if they could. As the Arabs cheered the fall of the World Trade Center towers on September 11th, believing Americans deserved to perish as the 'infidels' we are seen to be by fanatic Arab Muslims.

In national armed conflicts adults are faced with the decision to either fight or at least support our soldiers laying their lives on the line, for us. Simply saying 'War is bad' doesn't cut it. If that support involves cheering our battlefield victories, so be it.

Unlike other countries, in America, one always has the option of being a pacifist and simply going around saying 'War is Bad'. Fine. Let those who choose that path do so - and then get out of the way of those fighting and dying to preserve the freedoms that allow the pacifist to choose that position.

In my opinion, I'm certain that most Americans could do just fine without another war of any scope in our lifetimes, but that isn't our option anymore, as it wasn't an option in WWII.

The Korean and Viet Nam conflicts could have been avoided by allowing communists to overrun those particular countries but the U.S. choose to attempt to aid both South Viet Nam and South Korea in a fight against communist aggression against it's neighbors, respectively in 1949-53 (Korea) and 1962-1975 (Viet Nam).

Korea was a stalemate (49 years and counting) and of course, Viet Nam was a debacle for the U.S., as we fought half-heartedly (as compared to say, our actions in Afghanistan) and there was thin political and public support for the 'war'. Viet Nam is now a hell-hole of a country, a police-state with more misery for it's inhabitants than the war probably brought, but we've learned our lesson and won't ever get into that kind of no-win situation again.

Looking back, we blew it big-time there and our servicemen were treated badly by anti-war 'hippies' who found a 'cause' in being against war (and the draft).
Now, 35 years later, Mel Gibson has made a movie that depicts one major Viet Nam battle and shows both sides, or tries to, anyway. Viewers now cheer the men (depicted in the movie) they might have booed back in the mid-1960's.
Now, we know better and cheer the soliders from that era who stood up and fought as best they could in a half-arsed military operation in a bleak place that no one wanted to be.

Yeah, war is bad. No argument, just some perspective beyond cliches and bumper-sticker slogans that I thought one or two folks might be interested in.