加沙无眼--我们是否对持久的战争现实视而不见

EYELESS IN GAZA ARE WEBLIND TO AN ENDURINGREALITY OF WAR?MICHAEL VLAHOSAUGUST 20,2014COMMENTARYIn this new century of war,Americans have lost their way.We have become existentially unmoored.The very languagewe use to describe war with strangely disconnected words like“asymmetric”or“hybrid”tells the world howconfused and uncertain we feel when it comes to using military power effectively.But war has not changed in 10,000years.Gaza tells us it is the same,right near the same biblical site Jericho where war first began.The real problemis not that we do not know what war is,but that we refuse to see what is right in front of us and always has been.Thebig question for us is why we keep ourselves blind.Sun Tzu said,“In generalship the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.”Then why did we besiege walled citieswith such ardor for the next 2,500 years?Was Sun Tzu wrong,or are we humans just stupid?The fight in Gaza represents a fight for a fortress.Contemporary reinforced concrete,built-up into the densest humanlandscape,can make as good a fortress as any formally walled place from antiquity.