What do you think of Wkileaks?

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

Time to jump in here after missing the first 70 something posts.

With all this talk about transparency, I wonder how WWII would have been handled if they had the internet and all the information that is available now. With some people's views, we probably would have not gotten involved in the war in Europe since we don't live in Europe. As for the Pacific war, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, they flew home and did not occupy the islands. Therefore, there was no need to pursue them since they were not occupying US territory. So it looks like we would have had no involvement in WWII until the Germans and Italians had totally conquered Europe and North Africa, (if not all of Africa), and the Japanese had taken over China and the entire Pacific Rim. So that just leaves the Russian Front. I think that one may have been a toss up. Don't know if the US could have won the war from an entirely defensive position. So my question to those who have those views is, "Which do you want to speak: Japanese or German?"

JY

[Octopod]

"Which do you want to speak: Japanese or German?"

JY

We do not speak Russian yet it was Russia who won the war on the Western front.

If they was an internet during WW2 maybe people would have heard of the holocaust sooner and wished to intervene based on that.

[AppleQueso]

It's worth pointing out that most folks in the US at the time didn't want to get involved in Europe precisely because we didn't live there.

[Ack]

Come on guys, can we not bring WWII into this? Every war is based on a multitude of internal and external factors, some similar and some quite different from previous wars. There's been numerous parallels drawn between modern-day Afghanistan and Vietnam, WWII, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, so on and so forth...I'm surprised I haven't heard about comparisons to US involvement in the Philippines during the days of President McKinley, but that will likely come with time.

[Hatta]

Now, if the military starts rounding up civilians and mass executing them, THAT is an atrocity.

So, if they did, how would we know? Such an event would clearly be classified for national security purposes. Right? If people found out about massacres by US troops, that would encourage them to fight against us. Therefore, releasing that information would risk the lives of our soldiers, and damage national security.

I don't necessarily think that anything Wikileaks has reported on is an atrocity. Frankly, I'm pleasantly surprised that nothing worse has come out. But if you think you can just let the military do whatever they want, and take their word that they are not committing atrocities, then you're a fool.

Would you have been so willing to trust the military to act in secret if you were in 1940s Germany? I don't believe we're anywhere close to that. But if we can't get reliable reporting on what the military is doing now when they aren't committing atrocities, what makes you think we'd know if they started?

Sorry about the Godwin. It's the law, you know.

As for whether civilians understand collateral damage, I'm sure they do. War is hell. The more clear this is to them, the less we'll have. But oh wait, you like war. There's really no way to argue with someone who thinks war is a good thing.

Damn, I really was going to stop beating my head against this wall.

[MrPopo]

As for whether civilians understand collateral damage, I'm sure they do. War is hell. The more clear this is to them, the less we'll have. But oh wait, you like war. There's really no way to argue with someone who thinks war is a good thing.

Damn, I really was going to stop beating my head against this wall.

Again, you keep confusing the fact that I understand war will never be abolished and that since it exists it has benefits with me feeling we should go beat up some random countries for no good reason. But you obviously have a "no war at any cost" stance, so neither of us is going to convince the other of anything.

[Octopod]

War will be abolished one day when we have a one world government, which is necessary to join the United Federation of Planets.

[MrPopo]

War will be abolished one day when we have a one world government, which is necessary to join the United Federation of Planets.

That just shifts it to space war.

[AppleQueso]

but space war is more badass so its okay

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

"Which do you want to speak: Japanese or German?"

JY

We do not speak Russian yet it was Russia who won the war on the Western front.

Don't quite understand what you mean by that.

If they was an internet during WW2 maybe people would have heard of the holocaust sooner and wished to intervene based on that.

I have access to the internet and I just checked. According to a number of sites I found the holocaust never happened. Don't know where you got your bogus information from, but since I found mine on the internet, it must be true. I didn't even use Wikipedia.

JY