(08-12-2014 03:50 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(08-12-2014 03:32 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(08-12-2014 03:11 PM)vandiver49 Wrote:  The question is whether or not the US is willing to cede the moral high ground to get to job done. If not we should pack up our bags and head home, because this current position offer no tactical advantage.

Keep in mind that we occupy the high moral ground only when defined in terms of our own ethnocentric value system. Based on their values, we don't. So our self-righteous claim to the high moral ground means nothing in this context.

I agree that the moral high ground is self defined. And if that is the overriding tactic that governs US military doctrine, then it is time to come home. Because holding that ground is only valuable in non-violent confrontations. In any other instance, such a position can and will be used against us by more violent groups that see it as a weakness.

Precisely. But I don't think our leadership understands--or wants to understand--that point.