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diff --git a/books/Deaths of Others.page b/books/Deaths of Others.page new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a929c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/books/Deaths of Others.page @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +--- +format: rst +categories: book +toc: no +... + + +============================ +The Deaths of Others +============================ + +:by: John Tirman + +Synopsis: book covers "The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars", interweaving +deep coverage of the Korean, Vietnamese, Iraqi, and Afghan Wars with +contextual analysis of other US military engagements (frontier conquest, +Spanish-American, WWII, etc) domestic political movements (pacifist, leftist, +hawkish) and policies (Red Scare, containment). + +.. warning: These notes still in progress! + +Unstructured Notes +-------------------- + +Historical background sets a context of American expansionism using any means +and justified as part of a process of "civilizing savages in the wilderness" +for their own good. This is frequently accompanied by the mythology of heroes +who recognize the tragedy of the situation, and who have some connection-to or +understanding-of the savages, but ultimately act violently against them. + +The US Civil War strengthened isolationist policies "in the large". No +significant home-territory experience of war loss/violence in the US since +then. Sherman's total war largely accepted as a tragic necessity and introduced +as a strategic tool in overseas conflicts. + +Perceived successful WWII strategy of aerial bombardment, particularly bombing +campaigns in Germany and Japan, led to optimism about US ability to project +power without loss of US lives. + +Little evidence that terror bombing campaigns on civilians actually had /any/ +significant outcome on military success when battling totalitarian regimes: +civilians had no political power, and production/economy/recruiting was +carefully controlled and optimized. See also abandonment/starvation of +Japaneses civilians towards end of war. + +Ratio of US casualties to foreign civilian casualties started low and has +shrunk over time (TODO: table of this?). Potentially we still sub-consciously +assume that our loss/"sacrifice" is proportional to that of foreign citizens? + +p40-46: +Spanish-American war was controversial. Mark Twain wrote a lot about it. +Large scale ordered atrocities against civilians and nationalist Filipino +forces were widely reported in the states. Many considered these civilians +racial equivalents to Africans or Native Americans, and these deaths part of +their... taming? + +Korea +------- +One of the top handful of largest losses of life in the 20th century, over only +a three year period. Density of death in such a small region at least comparable +to WWII, Chinese civil war, etc. More deaths than American Civil War or Vietnam +War. Millions of Korean casualties, hundreds of thousands of Chinese +casualties. Both Koreas left utterly destroyed. + +Early (?) use of napalm against all targets, including fire bombing of +Pyongyang. + +p97: South Korean (under Rhee) massacres of leftist political opponents (many +non-communist) under direct oversight and permission of American advisers, +sometimes even . Tens of thousands killed before start of war, tens to hundreds +of thousands of civilians killed during the war itself, often mass murders at +prisons, also women and children. Rhee government took control in +non-democratic manner and established a repressive authoritarian state. US +funded, advised, and holds responsibility for an outright military campaign +against own (non-communist) South Korean citizens in rebellion. Funded violent +youth groups etc. + +Interesting Cited References +------------------------------ + +"The Sources of Soviet Conduct" by George Kennan (published under the name "X" +in Forein Affairs magazine, 1947) based on his longer official "long telegram" +report from Moscow. + +Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (Harcourt, 1951, 1968). + |