Ubermesh Wrote:Eliminating all traces of loyallty to the North Korean government would lead to the deaths of tens of millions of innocent civillians, better to cut the head off the snake and then buy out its successors.
Half-assed warring may be very common nowadays, but it is also only half effective. There would be no 'insurgents' for us to deal with in the middle east if we were to kill and then annex the countries there. It's one hell of a lot easier to defend your borders if you know where the hell they are drawn. It is also cheaper, because you know where your enemies are coming from (that being outside your borders), and don't have to spend so many resources on defending everywhere within.
The creature you have mistaken for a snake is a hydra, and every head you cut off will have several more replace it, until you finally are lost as to where the body of the hydra lies for all of the heads. Buying people out is itself an expensive process, and there is no guarantee that they won't just turn the money upon you. Pieces of paper and a few words do not a truce make... and serve better for the cheaters of this world than the fools who play war-fair.
Civilians are also not innocent... from whence do soldiers come? Infact they are support troops, the great cogs that fuel the war machine. Without them, what are the other soldiers even fighting for? They are easier to kill in larger number than the other soldiers, and exterminating them can be done somewhat cheaply and to great effect. Maybe you don't see it as honorable to kill someone that isn't yet directly threatening you... but when you've let honor get in the way of a war: you've become vulnerable to enemies that haven't let it get in the way.
Meatball Wrote:I don't think it would be very difficult to "win hearts and minds" in North Korea. Those people are starving. A sandwich wrapped in an American flag would go a long way if done right.
That might have your desired effect upon some of them... but most would likely just eat and be done with a good meal. It would be expensive and difficult to smuggle sandwiches in (flag or not) and spread to the populace. Not to mention the potential consequences for eating food given freely by americans... especially were a flag to be found in their possession.
Do we even know if those people are starving? Here I thought the greatest problem with North Korea was precisely that we have little understanding of what is going on within its borders. And even if they are starving, and sandwiches wrapped in american flags are distributed effectively... how have you won but their stomaches?
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
