He cried the same tears his Superiors and preceding Generals cried, empty tears. These are tears for their failures as leaders not for the lives they lost. I remember reading a Boston Globe reporter account of a 3 day offensive during the 98-2000 war. Eritrea was pushed back from its position for 3 days and it cost Ethiopia 10,000 lives for just 3 days.Eritrea was right back 3 days later. The reporter asked the soldiers ( he was there with the Ethiopians as the Boston Globe is known to be) why would they go forward Eritrea had laid the entire area with mines and the soldiers that survived told him that they would be shot by the rear guard if they did not advance. He said they counted the identification cards and the missing men from the units and that's where the 10,000 men figure came from. Even if it was a fraction of that it was horrific. I almost fell sorry for them. I recall reading an Ethiopian dismissing the death toll from a disease as being a million at most as if that's nothing. Ethiopia continues to view wars, famine,disease, and general malaise as a means of population control.
Received on Wed Jul 23 2014 - 19:39:50 EDT