War Ending Quotes
Almost every use of war weapons of mass destruction in history have been justified with the rationale that the total casualties would be reduced. It sometimes has been such as with the use of the atomic bomb in WWII but usually it has not. The same argument was made incidentally by Dr. Gattling, the inventor of the machine gun. In WWI far more men were killed by machine gun fire than poison gas.
The only soldier ever so honored
MacArthur’s solders had just executed a brilliant landing at Inchon cutting the North Korean forces. MacArthur, a man of great hubris, assured everyone that such a bold military stroke would certainly intimidate the Chinese Communists keeping them out of the conflict. He declared victory, and was more surprised than most when the Chinese did just the opposite of what he had assured they would do. Their troops crossed the Yalu river and attacked the American forces who suffered terrible casualties. The war was not over and the Third Division did not make it back to Fort Benning for Christmas. Many of the men never made it back at all. It would be over 50 years before another American official declared victory and when President George W. Bush did so in the Iraq War, the nation suffered the same fate—the victim of official leadership hubris.
The great powers she was referring to were Russia, United States, Turkey, and Iran. However, France as the ex-colonial power and England as a major force in post Ottoman Empire control are were also important. The Assad Alawite government and the Sunni majority were at odds with nether strong enough to crush the other.
