It is the eleventh hour of the 11th day of November, and 91 years ago
the 'War to End All Wars', World War I, ended with 2700 men killed
after an armistice was signed but before it went into effect.
It was an inevitable war fought over nothing of any significance,
resulting in almost 7 million combat deaths.
Perhaps one of the most astonishing things about the war was the
continuing mass slaughter of soldiers by their generals. Time after
time, masses of men went 'over the top' on the Western Front to be
gunned down by machine gun fire. 140,000 Allied soldiers died at
Ypres in 1917 to push the Germans back five miles, only to have that
absurdly small bit of territory recaptured five months later without
resistance. In what must now have a familiar ring to it, the entire
battle was fought on the erroneous belief that success would have
crippled the German's U-Boat threat -- a massive failure of
intelligence.
In World War II, with new toys at their disposal, generals became and
remained convinced (without evidence) that air power delivered via
massive bombardment could bring our enemies to their knees. Dresden
and the Tokyo fire-bombings were a few of the consequences of their
ill-informed actions.
In Vietnam, our generals remained convinced that we could bring North
Vietnam to its senses by raining ever more bombs down upon them, and win
a war with yet one-more increase in troops.
On this day, as we are asked to remember the veterans of these and
other wars, we are being asked to trust the generals again. More
troops, better armor, a new strategy; these will create victory in a
land that has seen no foreign victors in 2000 years. An influx of
foreigners will yet turn the tide against an enemy who, in the main,
exist precisely because foreign soldiers occupy their territory.
And the unfortunate truth is that they will probably have their way
again.
Mourn not for the dead of wars past today, though they deserve their
remembrance. Mourn today for the future dead, for those who need
not fall.