-Caveat Lector-
The Horrors of War: Forgetting the Occupation Through
Obliteration
http://www.drcnet.org/wol/265.html#horrorsofwar
As US troops continue to patrol Afghanistan, and as they prepare
to hit the ground in Colombia in January to intervene in that
country's ongoing civil war, and as the US government edges ever
closer to invading Iraq, a story out of Israel should (but
probably won't) provide some sobering reading for those pounding
the war drums along the Potomac. The Vietnam War saw widespread
drug use among US troops and a legion of junkies coming back to
America. The Gulf War, too, produced abreactions among the
troops, manifested most infamously by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh, but more quietly and more commonly by the fall into
alcohol or drug abuse.
But for many Americans, the Vietnam War is lost in the mists of
time, and the Gulf War is but a vague memory. The Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and the ongoing Palestinian intifada
("uprising") against it, however, are not ancient history. The
images of violence flash across the TV screen daily. The toll of
the dead and injured on both sides is well known. Less known is
the psychic toll paid by soldiers occupying a hostile land. But a
recent report in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv (November 5) shone
a bright light on the horrors of war for the fighters. It isn't
pretty, but it is instructive.
The Ma'ariv story, "What Have I Done! -- A Hundred Soldiers
Treated for 'Intifada Syndrome,'" focused on the Izun
"rehabilitation village" near the town of Ceasarea. There,
Ma'ariv reported, former soldiers are treated for deep mental
crises, including severe drug abuse, caused by their duties as
soldiers of the occupation. On the day Ma'ariv visited the
village, four ex-members of the Duvdevan (special forces units
carrying out arrests and assassinations while disguised as Arabs)
checked in.
"They joined the most elite of units, full of motivation," wrote
Ma'ariv. "They served terms of three years and more, fought in
the hardest battles of the Intifada, but also had to face the
civilian Palestinian population. Now that they have been
discharged the difficulties are exposed, the personal problems and
crises, the self-flagellation. The magnitude of the phenomenon is
frightening. Dozens of them went on backpacking trips to the Far
East where they became addicted to drugs, including hard drugs
such as heroin and cocaine. Some tried to commit suicide."
"When we started a year and eight months ago, we had the intention
of treating those backpacker soldiers returning from India,
Thailand and other places in a condition of total collapse,
apathetic and with no grasp of reality," said Israeli army reserve
lieutenant-colonel Omri Frish, a social worker by training who
organized the village. "We were staggered by the number of calls
we got. We got more then 900 calls from parents with very painful
stories of sons becoming drug addicts, trying to commit suicide
and generally emotionally distressed," he told Ma'ariv. "Many of
these were veterans of the most prestigious elite units such as
Sayeret Matkal, the Naval Commandos, Duvdevan and Duchifat."
Many of the soldiers hold themselves accountable for actions taken
to defend the occupation. "The soldiers burst out crying and
blame themselves for maltreatment, abuse, humiliation and derision
of the Palestinians," said one of the village doctors. "Now,
after being discharged, the vision of what they had done is
playing itself in their minds like a non-stop film. Suddenly the
soldier, the tough fighter who had been nicknamed 'Rambo,' goes to
India. There he experiences another reality, a quiet and tranquil
situation. When he comes back he realizes what he had done. He
tries to escape from reality, to escape into drugs, and his life
becomes a ruin."
One former paratrooper being treated at Izun explained: "We went
into houses. We saw children and old people crying. We shot at
their TV sets. At first you feel no pity, you just have a job to
do and you do it. But later when you sit at home, you start
realizing what you have done, and it hurts you deeply."
"Their problems are severe," said Frish. "Soldiers who killed
Palestinians, soldiers who by mistake killed a fellow soldier,
soldiers who failed under pressure. They try to face life and
travel to India, to the East. On their return we interview them.
When we ask 'why did you do it', they say 'I don't know why, it
was as if there was another person inside me.'"
Frish told of one Sayeret Matkal [Israeli equivalent of the Green
Berets] officer who spent two years fighting the Palestinians.
"After his discharge he traveled to Thailand. He tried to escape
his experiences in the [occupied] Territories. He failed and
became a drug addict. In Israel he went on to become a very heavy
cocaine user. His parents called and asked us to help him. We
agreed, and he was treated with his parents accompanying him. A
few days later he was found dead in his room," Frish related.
Another patient at the village was an elite fighter who traveled
to India after finishing his service. "He took some LSD and
entered a cave in order to meditate," said Frish. "Suddenly he
saw scenes from the Intifada in front of his eyes: terrorists
belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He suffered shock and
anxiety attack and subsequently collapsed. With his parents'
help, he was evacuated to be treated in the village."
Another group of patients at the village are soldiers tasked with
assassinating Palestinian militant Iyad Batat early in 2001. "At
first we were happy and elated with our success. We posed for
photographs over the remnants of his mangled body, some of us
smiling and laughing while holding his torn-off organs," a member
of that group told Ma'ariv. "Suddenly, a few weeks later, the
Operations Officer came over, reprimanded us and demanded that we
hand over those photographs. He burnt them in front of us and
warned us never to take such photos again. When we finally
realized what we had done, we felt very upset. A short time
later, two of us went to a party, where they took a lot of Ecstasy
pills. They came back to camp totally doped. We had to take away
their guns and lock them up in a room until the psychiatrists came
to take them. One of them didn't recognize anybody, and was all
the time shouting 'Muhammad, Muhammad, Muhammad.' He became
totally crazy. The Intifada has finished him."
The Israeli Defense Forces -- like the Pentagon -- seems
uninterested in the plight of its former soldiers. "We don't
follow it up," an unnamed military official told Ma'ariv. "We
cannot deal with every fighter that fell into drug abuse or is
suffering emotional distress in some monastery in India. We are
aware of the difficult situation of fighters and soldiers who are
distressed. There are support groups and we look favorably upon
the formation of the village and its worthy work."
Those former soldiers who are dragged in or otherwise present
themselves for treatment are the tip of the iceberg, one officer
at Izun told Ma'ariv. "There are hundreds of others who hang
around with a feeling that their life has no purpose. It's only a
few easy steps to drugs and suicide," he said. "We dread the
possibility of former soldiers will get involved in criminal
activity as a result of their distress."
If the Ma'ariv report is any indication, it looks as if American
drug treatment centers can expect a new stream of clients as US
troops begin what appears to be an extensive, open-ended battle
against hostile populations from Kabul to Kuwait and from Bogota
to Baghdad.
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