[andyfox]

I don't speak for the American left. Opinionated nonsense is in good supply all over the political spectrum, wouldn't you agree?

A quote from Dwight Eisenhower: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from an iron cross."

Rommel, besides being famous for his grasp of operational tactics and command ability, was described by many as an honourable man who did not commit any war crimes. "While many of his colleagues and peers in the German Army surrendered their honor by collusion with the iniquities of Nazism, Rommel was never defiled." [Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars] He maintained his professionalism as a soldier and observed the rules of war even as he fought. Walzer commented that not only did Rommel fight the war well militarily, he also fought it morally. When Hitler issued the Commando Order on October 28, 1942, which instructed all enemy soldiers encountered behind the German line to be killed at once, it was Rommel who burnt that order. While his colleagues would have complied with that order and taken no prisoners, Rommel had the moral courage to disobey that order and treated all prisoners of war in accordance with the rules of war. He was highly respected by his enemies and not without reason. During the North African Campaign, Rommel often cut the water rations of his troops, so that the prisoners of war could survive. He was tasked to defend the area stretching from Holland to Bordeaux to prevent an Allied invasion in 1943. When the Allies landed in June of 1944, he realized that the war was lost and condoning Hitler’s senseless continuation of it would be an irresponsible act resulting in unnecessary deaths.

What evidence can you provide that the greatest generals considered war "fun"?