its why war doesn't work no more. Before there was a camera on every soliders shoulder, and someone ready to put him on trial for war crimes, war, was well, war. Witness the first and second world wars - very little 'live from the frontline' media action. Lots of terrible things happened. It was war. Then, we learned about what a terrible thing war is. Then Vietnam was on TV. I am not defending the actions of people who burn down villages, but if you can accept war is reasonable and justifed, then in the context of war, anything goes. I have never understood the difference between killing a man with a rifle being okay in war, but burning him down in his house with gasoline and a lighter is not. Dead is dead, the route to getting there in a war is semantics. If TV footage existed, do you think we would have found the burning out of Dresden acceptable, the deaths of innocent folks something that we could handle? Its why we are in the place we are - if we were not so squeamish about 'war', then afganistan would have been leveled into the biggest car park ever after the first month - look at the military might of the USA, versus the Taliban - no contest. But because we want a nice war, we fart about, letting our soldiers die in the process.
Now, this may sound like I am a blood thirsty, geneva convention-baiting maniac. I'm not. In fact, this is the reason I believe that this war, that in Iraq, and any other is not the way forward. Unless we are prepared to kill indiscriminately, and unless we are civilians are prepared to sanction this, then we are guilty of sending highly trained personnel out there, and as said, tying their hands behind their back. War does not work in the world of media footage, it puts the reality of war in civilian faces, we baulk, and then fanny around with a diluted version. Hence bogged down yet again in a country, fighting a half-assed war that we are not sure of the reasons behind. So, whilst I am anti-war, I am not anti-military personnel - they are doing the job they are expert at, but the politicians should have realised that unless they accept total war, then they have sent them out there incorrectly and should recall them.
Mr. Weeks, I sincerely wish all the best of luck to your son for a safe tour and a safe return.