Theophilus wrote:Ed, I’m trying to understand how applying your military philosophy would’ve looked in WW-II.
[snip]
I remain unclear as to how the doctrine you propose would’ve worked out and if subduing the Axis via unconditional surrenders was indeed worse than keeping them around with whatever gains their power allowed them to retain.
Fair enough, Brother. I have not yet stated what my geo-political-military doctrine is! I am (possibly the only) member of the Crypto-Libertarian-Messianic-Party. (Crypto-Libertarian: Basically a libertarian, but nobody know what the ____ I am talking about!)
Be warned: Attempting to make sense out of my political and military philosophy usually causes a full-on helmet fire!
As stated earlier, I believe that we should apply the doctrines given to Moshe on Sinai for self-defense personally and nationally. If someone breaks into your house at night, you may use deadly force to defend yourself, your family and your possessions. It would be sinful to mount a counterattack that goes and kills all of the bad guy's family, livestock and burns his house to the ground.
I feel that the same self-defense principle can be applied to nation-states on the off chance that they are seeking to behave in a manner that pleases YHWH.
How would this principle be applied in 1937-1941?
1) FDR's military build up should have had a much more defensive complexion than it did. (More P-40's, PBY's and PT boats. No B-17's or battleships)
2) If General and Madame Chang want to hire gringo's as 'consultants' (like the AVG), let them! (Do not spend our tax dollars in a half-hearted defense of some other country.)
3) If the oil-fields in the Dutch East Indies are being threatened, then Shell Oil can hire 'consultants' to protect them. (Do not spend our tax dollars nor send some draftee from Iowa to die for them.)
4) America was (at that time) a nation of well-armed individuals. Had the Axis attempted to invade, the Germans would not have made it past 57th Street and the Imperial Japanese Army would not have gotten past Burbank. (How do we know this? This was
one reason why Switzerland never attacked, even when she was surrounded by Fascist and Occupied countries.)
What I am trying to say is that "You can defend and protect yourself and your property, but you cannot invade/bomb other countries"
Getting back to the doctrine of self-defense, on a personal level: Torah allows for the use of deadly force against a robber in your house at night. This is undeniable. Yeshua, on the other hand is always on about 'mercy' and 'compassion'. Bearing in mind that hypothetical questions only give you hypothetical answers: If I caught a bad guy stealing my television,
and my family was in no danger, I would like to think that I would just run him off, rather than end his life, even though my state's laws and Torah allow for the use of deadly force. (I might 'accidently' put a bullet hole in the television, but that would be more of an editorial comment than anything else. ;-) That is what I would want my Savior to see me doing.
If I saw this same bad guy then attempting to break in to my neighbor's house, I still do not think the
best thing to do would be to shoot him. My neighbor would not want someone shot and killed in his house just because he was trying to steal a VCR. That would be too great a burden for my neighbor. (I might 'accidently' put a bullet hole in the neighbor's INCREDIBLY LOUD SWIMMING POOL PUMP THAT RUNS ALL NIGHT, but that too, would be more of an editorial comment than anything else.)
Back to geo-politics: Our two longest wars (WW2 and Iraq/Afghanistan) could have been avoided if the OSS and CIA could have paid a well placed colonel to put a knife between Adolf and Sadamm's ribs early on. I even think that I could stand before my Creator and not be condemned for an act such as that. I hope that General Tibbets and his grandson, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets IV have asked forgiveness for the killings of civilians they committed in Japan and Iraq.
These are only my opinions, and are worth exactly what you just paid for them: NOTHING!
(and I am likely to amend them at anytime!)
It would be fun if we could have a YY meet up and kick around these ideas.