[Peace-discuss] Unsound Methods

[C. G. Estabrook]

Unsound Methods

	"Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a
hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I
like brawling ... You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women
around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like
that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to
shoot them."

	--Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, USMC
	Speech on Strategies for the War on Terrorism
	February 1, 2005

	"While I understand that some people may take issue with the
comments made by him, I also know he intended to reflect the unfortunate
and harsh realities of war," [Marine Corp Commandant Mike] Hagee said.
"Lt. Gen. Mattis often speaks with a great deal of candor." Hagee also
praised Mattis, calling him "one of this country's bravest and most
experienced military leaders."

	--Associated Press
	Marine General Counseled for Comments
	February 3, 2005

______________________________

	Col: Kurtz (on tape): We must kill them. We must incinerate them.
Pig after pig, cow after cow, village after village, army after army. And
they call me an assassin. What do you call it when the assassins accuse
the assassin? They lie. They lie and we have to be merciful for those who
lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. How I hate them ... (tape ends)

	Gen. Corman: Walt Kurtz was one of the most outstanding officers
this country has ever produced. He was brilliant and outstanding in every
way. And he was a good man, too. A humanitarian man, a man of wit, of
humor. He joined the Special Forces. But after that his ideas, his
methods, became ... unsound.

	You see Willard, in this war, things get confused out there:
power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity. Out
there with these natives it must be a temptation to be god. Because
there's a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the
irrational, between good and evil. The good does not always triumph.
Sometimes the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of
our nature. Every man has a breaking point. You and I have. Walter Kurtz
has reached his. And very obviously, he has gone insane.

	Willard: Yes sir, very much so sir. Obviously insane.

	--Apocalypse Now
	1979

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