Quote:
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Originally Posted by celtan
Guerrilla is an uncivilized form of warfare, which removes any protection from the civilians the guerrilla hides behind. It justifies actions as we currently see in Gaza, and the actions taken by US Soldiers in the hamlets of Nam' as well as as in the German Towns during WWII. It also justifies the actions taken by German soldiers in WWII after partisan activity.
Things to ponder...
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Guerrilla warfare IS uncivilized. But the use of superior firepower to blow up miles of land and bombard cities is pretty uncivilized... people use those paths, work those fields, inhabit those cities. The civilians use the land and infrastructure. Then the soldiers roll in, from the time of conquistadores to the modern day with state of the art weaponry and guns. Against such firepower and great odds it can't blame the guerrillas for using the countryside and the population to hide and time their retaliation. Ideally the population also supports the guerrillas. However often when the guerillas lose the support of or never had the full support of the people, they resort to violence and terrorism to coerce the locals and resupply. It's a desperate and draining form of warfare. Spiteful to say the least. But for the guerrilla fighter armed with a low quality gun or a machete, indoctrinated in some political or nationalistic ideal, and facing better armed foreigners... he does what he needs to do.
Not that it's civilized, but war isn't to begin with - doesn't mean we should make it worse than it has to be I guess.
I think we should also distinguish between guerrilla warfare and hit-and-run warfare... if an Amazonian tribe is ambushing some deforesting Brazilians, that's a hit-and-run... but rebels in Guatemala, terrorizing creoles and Mayans alike, that's guerrilla warfare... it can be hard to draw the line sometimes