Quote Originally Posted by Coldstreamer View Post
However, with the compressed 24/7 news cycle, the interweb and all the other issues we see, could we not say Lyndie England (poor sap/poorly led) was a strategic PFC? Lasting political damage? Worldwide perception impact? Big hit to moral high ground?
You can't go on being a Guards officer if you start making incisive and intelligent observations like that! Rupert and Tarquin will get very miffed!

....but yes, this is the nature of the debate. My points are:

a.) Lyndie England cannot loose the war for you.
b.) What she did will still have the same effect, with or without the internet or 24 hour news - Remember this?

or

Neither picture or the stories surrounding them had strategic effect. The only thing that generally creates strategic effect is the reporting of something strategically significant - The Sinking of the Lusitania, being a good example, and 911 being another. Both were deemed indicative of a collective intent, with political aims. Lyndie England type issues are very different.