Soldier Testifies of Stress in Iraq Unit http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060808/D8JC90NO0.html
We in the States, and I suppose folks in England as well, are used to horrible stories in the "news", because "if it bleeds, it leads" has long been job 1 of our information system. Selling newspapers and getting people to tune in is how a sizeable piece of our "modern" culture works. Still, this story ranks right up there with the more disturbing stories we're treated to whenever they happen, because it involves the most inhumane behavior man is capable of, and it plays to our prurient interests, as do so many "news" stories. One thing I must point out because it's not being said: the effect this and similar stories have on the Iraqi people. This angle is something our "news" doesn't find very interesting and is a pot our programmers have elected not to stir, but our soldiers will most definitely feel on the battlefield. The is a "rage stirrer" of a very high order. I will make no effort to defend the action of those involved. This story is as horrific to me as it is to anyone else. All I can think to say is that this is an example of what happens to some people when their world is reduced to (in fact or in perception) survival and they don't have a strong enough sense of ethics and morality to hold onto what we call sanity. It's often said, and it's true, that you just don't know how people will behave in life or death situations. There always seems to be some exceptional story in the aftermath of a fight. It might be of the mouse who roared, or the guy who shit his pants. It is pretty common, though, for people to feel rage over seeing friends killed and maimed, and the rage does build over time. Most (not all) people have a breaking point, and many are vulnerable to "group-think" which can work in different ways. Most of us have heard about My Lai and what happened there, but group-think can also work the other way around, as happened in Khe Sahn. It depends on how the leaders, or the most outspoken, act. In My Lai, the leaders were possessed of demons; in Khe Sahn, the leaders were totally unwavering professional soldiers. In this case, it appears that this guy Green (perhaps easily) cracked, and because he was the most outspoken of the group, the others followed him. I suppose they'll all hang for it, but I feel a touch of sympathy for the followers, who most likely would have never done such a thing without the circumstances they were in and the spark Green provided. But to a far greater extent, I feel sympathy for all of the soldiers involved in this war. Never before have we sent people to kill, die and suffer for essentially no reason. In the end, the Iraqi's - and the Muslim population in general - will shape their own destiny. That we - and our soldiers in particular - have been so duped as to believe that we are the masters of their destiny is already a blunder of legendary, epic scope, and yet here we are today STILL listening to the handful of Green's who have been pulling our strings. So, today, as we watch the heavy hand of justice come down on Green and his gang, perhaps at least some of us might reflect on the fact that the same hand should be coming down on the perpetrators of this war. As terrible as Green's crime is, theirs is a million-fold worse. Bill _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
