Here's the thing. If you're going to fight a war, you have to have a "no rules" attitude. That's why war is the "bad thing" that should only be used as a means of last resort.
The mistake of certain "moral signalling" Western countries however is that they like to pretend that war can be a nice, equal-opportunities, diversity fest that can be micromanaged; one in which only the "baddies" will be killed—after due process and with ribbons and bows tied—and anyone who breaks "the rules" or oversteps the mark, especially on our own side, will also be punished.
War is not like that. War is chaos. It is overkill. It is, when all is said and done, terrorism writ large.
Recognizing its true nature ensures either (a) its efficiency or (b) its avoidance. But a sick synergy between corporate interests and the Leftist urge to splurge has turned it into an ever-dripping tap of pointless Western interventionism that voters themselves are clearly sick of.
Trump was elected partly because he saw and expressed this. Remember this zinger from 2016?
In 2018 he was still saying the same thing:
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush. Obama may have gotten (U.S. soldiers) out wrong, but going in is, to me, the biggest single mistake made in the history of our country...Because we spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. Now if you wanna fix a window some place they say, 'oh gee, let’s not do it.' Seven trillion, and millions of lives — you know, ‘cause I like to count both sides. Millions of lives.”But now, after three years in office, President Trump's position is a more complicated one. He might make similar noises, but he is riding the bull of deeply embedded political and economic interests, built up over decades. Whether he wants to stop them or not is no longer even that clear. But part of him clearly despises the cant and hypocrisy of former administrations that assuaged their guilt and stupidity with the absurd notion that America can fight nice, clean, well-managed wars.
While Bushes, Clintons, and Obama might think that war can be "humanised" and "house trained," Trump to his credit realises it is a snarling beast, dripping with blood and gore. This explains his attitude in pardoning a couple of so-called "war criminals," former Army lieutenant Clint Lorance and Army Green Beret major Matt Golsteyn.
The first was convicted of murder, the second on trial for it. Both are now free men. So, what did they do?
Lorance was convicted of ordering an enlisted soldier to open fire on a group of unarmed Afghans in 2012.Pretty clear-cut instance of killing men without a cast-iron reason. What about Golsteyn?
One soldier fired two shots at three men who were riding a motorcycle. He missed. The men dismounted their bike and approached Afghan soldiers who were at the front of a mixed U.S. Afghan patrol.
The Afghan soldiers asked the three men to leave. Lorance then ordered his platoon’s gun truck to fire on the men, killing two.
Golsteyn previously told Army Times that he killed a bombmaker in an ambush but that it was a lawful action. The alleged bombmaker had been detained and turned over to Afghan authorities but was soon released. He [the bombmaker] then discovered the identity of a local man who had informed coalition members about the bombmaker’s activities and feared for his life, Golsteyn said."Lawful"? Hmmm... It looks like Golsteyn killed this guy in cold blood on the assumption that he would kill the informant. Pretty proactive, but not the sort of thing that the snowflake civilisation that Leftists are attempting to erect on the ruins of the West can turn a blind eye to.
Both men are technically thugs and murderers, but what Trump is saying is "So what? War is war, get over it."
"War criminal" is probably the worst tautology ever invented, especially when applied to the ordinary grunts on the ground, surrounded by a hostile populace, dead comrades, unreliable allies, and politicians back home ready to throw them under a bus. To his credit Trump realises this. The real war crime is that US troops remain in far away countries like Afghanistan and Syria, serving no useful purpose or US interest.
But will the real culprits responsible for this crime be brought to justice? That was another reason people voted for Trump. He at least promised to jail Hillary and her ilk. One wonders has he also secretly pardoned her, and will he one day even have to pardon himself.
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