War has changed in so many ways from what it was before the age of terrorism. Nothing is black and white anymore when it comes to the enemy; everything is a grey area. Anything that can be made into a bomb is of potential danger: trash; dogs; civilians (children and women); etc. This makes the fight that much harder because everything is a threat, not just men in uniform. Paranoia is accentuated as a result. The age of terrorism has made war not just a physical battle but a mental battle. Battling the enemy seems to be more mental than anything else.
Weapons are more than guns and bombs on a battlefield, they are computers, planes, buses, buildings, and anything else that can be used to kill masses. Targets have changed as well. Innocent lives are constantly at stake in the age of terrorism; the more innocent victims there are the more successful the act of terrorism was. It is difficult to win a battle where civilians are the main targets.
The motivation behind war has changed as well. To me, there seems to be no motivation because it has turned into an obscured hatred of a group of people "just because". We cannot distinguish the good from the bad, so everyone becomes bad.
I agree with your point of not being able to distinguish the good from the bad, therefore everyone becomes bad. I believe that also makes the transition from war to home life even harder on the soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you that war is now something just because of blind hatred. If you are on the side of the terrorists you are doing it for a myriad of reasons, either the formation of Israel, western invasion of your home or a misinterpretation of the Quran that you think tells you too. Then the west inherently attacks back in retaliation to defend itself or its allies, though they do not always go about it the correct way.
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