British Soldier speaks out against Moral Superiority of Americans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1684561,00.html
Of course the British military doesn't know anything about moral superiority, since their military tradition is over 200 years of invading and ruling technologically inferior opponents versus the United States military tradition of liberating the downtrodden. So expect the Brits to be confused about something like fighting a war where you are morally superior to your enemy. (I can think of one notable exceptions for the Brits which proves the rule)
If our cultural "insensitivity", amounts to insitutional racism, it is preferable to the delicate and detailed "understanding" of the Europeans, which allows them to tolerate tyranny in the name of cultural differences. The insensitivity of Americans means we will not tolerate excuses for why "the people of X will never be free," because we understand... indeed the basis of our existence, is that the rights of people are not granted by their governing institutions, but innate.
He also is a critic of the optimisim of our fighting men and women. But you can't fault the British for being confused about optimisim. The Brits get more excited about their Dunkirks then their... well, I can't think of a good example of a british victory, but you know what I mean.
Oh.. Waterloo. But of course that was against the French.
The Brigadier's comments regarding our tactics are far more interesting and useful, and we should probably accept some of what he says, and adopt the tactics. After all, putting down insurgencies in a culturally different landscape is a British hallmark. But we shouldn't be ashamed because we do not wring our hands and worry, instead of recognizing that an enemy which seeks to restore the vicious tyranny of the Baathist regime, or install the even more vicious tyranny of Al-Qaeda regime is an enemy which must be defeated.
Of course the British military doesn't know anything about moral superiority, since their military tradition is over 200 years of invading and ruling technologically inferior opponents versus the United States military tradition of liberating the downtrodden. So expect the Brits to be confused about something like fighting a war where you are morally superior to your enemy. (I can think of one notable exceptions for the Brits which proves the rule)
If our cultural "insensitivity", amounts to insitutional racism, it is preferable to the delicate and detailed "understanding" of the Europeans, which allows them to tolerate tyranny in the name of cultural differences. The insensitivity of Americans means we will not tolerate excuses for why "the people of X will never be free," because we understand... indeed the basis of our existence, is that the rights of people are not granted by their governing institutions, but innate.
He also is a critic of the optimisim of our fighting men and women. But you can't fault the British for being confused about optimisim. The Brits get more excited about their Dunkirks then their... well, I can't think of a good example of a british victory, but you know what I mean.
Oh.. Waterloo. But of course that was against the French.
The Brigadier's comments regarding our tactics are far more interesting and useful, and we should probably accept some of what he says, and adopt the tactics. After all, putting down insurgencies in a culturally different landscape is a British hallmark. But we shouldn't be ashamed because we do not wring our hands and worry, instead of recognizing that an enemy which seeks to restore the vicious tyranny of the Baathist regime, or install the even more vicious tyranny of Al-Qaeda regime is an enemy which must be defeated.
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