“You can’t win by playing defense. You must take the war to the enemy — without restraint. If you’re not determined to win at any cost, you’ll lose…

…War is never clean or easy…Collateral damage and civilian casualties are part of combat and always will be. The most humane approach is to pile on fast and win decisively…

…The generals who won World War II would start by leveling Raqqa, the ISIS caliphate’s capital. Civilians would die, but those remaining in Raqqa have embraced ISIS, as Germans did Hitler.”

So, kill ’em all, says the retired military officer.

Aggressive wars. Fought without restraint. At any cost — financially or in terms of human life. Fought not against combatants but “the enemy.” This is the American military mentality and sums up 20th century warfare. All horror is justified in the name of “winning” based on some completely theoretical and speculative and imaginary number of people who were “saved” as a result of whatever action was taken. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Christian Just War Theory.

I would love, just once, for one of these people to define what “winning” looks like in the War on Terror, let alone in a post-nuclear age. That would be interesting.