Once a conflict starts, the statesmen lose control".
The large military presence on both sides increases the risk of a conflict starting by accident.
"We all know that once a conflict starts it is difficult to confine it," a Pakistani official said.
As Gates himself said on the plane from Fort Hood, once a conflict starts, the statesmen — people like him — lose control.
Once a conflict starts, the parties are entitled to kill combatants (even those not engaged in fighting), but they must spare and succour non-combatants and wounded fighters.
There has been much discussion of a conflict starting with an Israeli air campaign against Iranian nuclear facilities, or with a terrorist attack on an American target that is traced back to Iran.
"Once a conflict starts, the statesmen lose control," Gates said, adding that at the CIA he had learned to ask the question, "What's chapter two?
Gafas Project Successful story of working with community volunteers Dafurian Mothers want a better future for their children It has been a decade since the conflict started in Darfur and Dafurian mother's tears are endless.
Meanwhile, there was a growing humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, with the ongoing fighting leaving at least 10,000 dead some estimates were considerably higher than that and more than 1.9 million displaced a year after the conflict started.
By Eman Eltigani Nyala, South Darfur, May 2014 It has been a decade since the conflict started in Darfur and Dafurian mother's tears are endless.
