Short little book

Yesterday afternoon a new book came in from Augsburg/Fortress Press in their Facets series. The book is only about 110 pages, but it is intriguing. I am going to have to read the whole thing. Here are the bibliographic details:

The Horrors We Bless
Rethinking the Just-War Legacy
Facets
by Daniel C. Maguire
Fortress Press, 2007
viii + 103 pages, English
Paper, 4.5 x 7
ISBN: 0800638972
List Price: $7.00
Your Price: $6.51
www.eisenbrauns.com/wconnect/wc.dll?ebGate~EIS~~I~MAGHORROR

Anyway, I was looking through the book, and was struck by how insightful it was. He isn't a pacifist, although he acknowledges that the early church was overwhelmingly so. He isn't a just war theorist, saying it lacks sufficient Biblical backing. I'm not quite sure what he is proposing, since I was only able to look through about 15 pages or so. But, one thing he does say is, "War is stupid." (italics his).

He then proceeds to talk about rules of war, taking the medieval period as an example. There were certain rules of war: knights on horses, etc. Well, the English discovered the longbow and beat the crap out of the French. The French didn't learn, and tried the same tactic again–3 times. They finally learned, but it took Joan of Arc to teach them.

Fast forward several hundred years. The U.S. goes to Vietnam, fully equipped to fight a WWII type war. The VC use guerrilla war tactics and beat the crap out of the U.S. Fast forward 30 years. The U.S. goes to Iraq figuring to fight a WWII type war... OK, get the picture? Big tanks, lots of noise, obvious target. Enemy? The people who live there. Result? Genocide. You can't win without killing innocent people because you don't know who your enemy is. Conclusion: War is stupid, but also immoral.

I have got to read the rest of the book, its only 110 pages...