Two Quotes

All the wheels are falling off the Iraq "War". I put war in quotes because I think war is too gentle a term for what is happening in Iraq. "War" for our species still connotes an endeavor of honor, of glory, of heroism, of gallant causes, of valliant warriors sacrificing for sacred duty. Iraq is none of these. Iraq is outrage. Iraq is abomination. Iraq is disgrace. Iraq is atrocity.

It took six years, from 1963 when U.S. troops were first committed big time in Vietnam until 1969 for the first reports about the abomination of Mylai to hit the soft underbelly of the American public eye. U.S. military occupation forces have been in Iraq for just over a year, and the American public is again having to reelingly deal with the reality of just what post-post-modern warfare is, what it does to decent, good, human beings, our youth, our most precious resource, who are transformed into "lean, mean, fighting/killing/abusing/torturing machines." Not only Abu Ghraib, but nightly, despite the best efforts of the White House and the Pentagon to manage the news, the American citizenry are confronted with the awful reality of what war just awfully is.

Many pundits and politicians are saying that it is only a few bad apples in a barrel full of too many "good men and women," that most of our truly brave and dedicated soldiers, sailors, airpersons and marines are honorable. But I've been in war; I know differently now. There is nothing honorable about war, as much as even I hate to let go of this virulent myth. Mylai was not an exception. Nor is Abu Ghraib.

Last year I came across a quote from Thomas Jefferson, which resonated with my deep sadness/rage that as a nation, as a people, as a society, we Americans just don't get it:

"Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever."

Though he was talking about slavery, it equally applies to the systemic violence that our nation's military superpower might has been unleashing upon the earth since mid-World War II.

This morning I came upon another quote by one of Jefferson's contemporaries, Voltaire, that to my mnd most aptly describes what is happening in Iraq:

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Comments

[Ronni]

Apt Voltaire quote, thomas. Even not having ever been in the in the military, I kinda just know in my bones that honorable has never been part of war, though I believe there are times when war is justified.

We had a lightning and thunder storm here in New York/New Jersey overnight. I wonder if Abu Graib will become the lightning storm that wakes up the slumbering masses here to the global damage, in many arenas, Washington has done.