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Sherman’s Challenge
by Pat Gang
June 26, 2004
Discussion Board on this 5 by 5 topic
One hundred forty years ago, General William Tecumseh Sherman let it be known that he intended to force the evacuation of Atlanta and then burn it to the ground. This action would, at one swoop, cut his own supply lines and eliminate a potential base for Confederate resistance. Once out of the city, he would begin his famed “March to the Sea.”
His Confederate counterpart, General John Bell Hood, wrote Sherman an impassioned letter begging him not to put Atlanta to the torch. Sherman promptly answered Hood and two sentences in his reply prove why he enjoys a reputation as one the most eloquent commanders in American history, in the first he bluntly states, “War is cruelty and you cannot refine it.”
The recent horrific executions of Nick Berg, Paul Johnson and Kim Sun-il have brought Sherman’s remark into sharp focus. Nick Berg’s execution set the standard for the others. Some mystery still surrounds the exact circumstances of just how Berg ended up in the hands of al Qaeda terrorists. What is not a mystery is what happened next. Nick Berg was beheaded in a particularly gruesome and grotesque fashion. As Berg died screaming, his murderers chanted “God is great” before a TV camera.
War is cruelty and you cannot refine it.
These murders come while this country has been wallowing (and there is no other word for it) in the scandal revolving about the mistreatment of some Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib Prison. A relative handful of prison guards took pictures as they forced some of the detainees into humiliating and degrading poses. This being an election year, once these photos became public, elected officials of every stripe felt an overwhelming need to weigh in on the subject. Stentorian tones have emanated from the halls of Congress and various DOD and military leaders were called on the carpet. While disturbing, the Al Ghraib issue can be weighed against one simple fact. No Abu Ghraib prisoners were beheaded.
These brutal murders have gone a long way toward re-introducing Americans to the nihilistic and bloodthirsty nature of our enemy. The aftershocks of 9-11 have faded, rapidly replaced in the popular mind by vapid interest in the murky doings at Michael Jackson’s estate or exactly how many square inches of Paris Hilton are available for public viewing.
Most wars have some defining point where the exact nature of the conflict becomes crystal clear. Early in the battle for Guadalcanal, a twenty-five man intelligence patrol under LTC Frank Goettge, was ambushed. The last of three survivors to escape returned to Marine lines and told of seeing swords and bayonets gleaming as wounded Americans were stabbed and beheaded. At that point the Americans realized fully, that they were up against a ferocious enemy that would give no quarter and expected none in return. The tale of the Goettge Patrol became standard briefing material for men on their way to the Pacific Theater and was also published in Richard Tregaskis’ book, Guadalcanal Diary and was a prominent part of the 1943 movie by the same title. Civilians watching the film or reading the book were shocked to the very soles of their feet. The savagery of the war crashed into Main Street, USA. Civilian American steeled itself and resolved to meet savagery with savagery. The book and movie were the WWII equivalent of the Berg video.
War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.
In our post-modern, comfortable cosseted world has now come a savagery. Can we, as a people summon the necessary savagery to defeat it? Can we accept that many “innocent” lives will have to be taken by American arms to pin down and defeat this foe? Are we capable of mustering the cruelty to see this war through? Do our elected leaders understand another Sherman quote, “that war is war, and not popularity seeking?” Can we live up to the sentence following “War is cruelty…” with which General Sherman gives us the solution to the conundrum that he faced in the fourth year of our bloody Civil War and we face today?
“The crueler we make it, the shorter it will be.”
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