It's harder to support the troops

The sort of yellow ribbon magnet that I’d be willing to affix to my car would need really small lettering: “Support the troops, but not if they’re committing atrocities, or acting as if the Iraq conflict were a war rather than the occupation that it really is.”

Yes, it’s getting harder to support the troops. What bothers me the most is the attitude, promulgated from the President on down, that we’re engaged in an “Iraq war.” That was only briefly true. Now its an Iraq occupation.

Most of the insurgents that we’re fighting are home-grown, a nationalist reaction to a foreign occupying force. Yes, some are Al Qaeda. But its wrong to consider that every Iraqi who resists the American occupation is a combatant in the war on terror.

That leads to indefensible atrocities like Haditha. Now, I can hear neo-conservative apologists saying, “Don’t convict the soldiers before they’ve had a fair trial.” I’m not. The conviction has already taken place, because no matter what happened at Haditha, it is indefensible.

Either the soldiers knowingly killed innocent people. Or they unknowingly killed them, as the soldiers’ defense lawyers are claiming. They say that the troops entered a home where insurgents were thought to be hiding and went room to room, tossing in grenades and spraying gunfire without checking to see who was inside.

That was allowable under the rules of engagement. Apparently it’s permissible to kill indiscriminately when you’re at war. But if the Iraq conflict were to be considered an occupation, or a police action, it’s hard to see how what happened at Haditha is anything other than negligent manslaughter, if not murder.

What bothers me the most is how unbothered I’ve been about what’s going on in Iraq. Along with most other Americans. We read the news every day about another bombing, more civilian deaths, shortages of essential services, physicians and other needed professionals fleeing the country.

And then we turn the page. On to the comics.

This poem from the June 19, 2006 The New Yorker issue speaks to our distractions. I liked it a lot. Can’t say that I understand it. But that’s the beauty of poetry. Ambiguity.
---------------------------------
A PARTIAL HISTORY OF MY STUPIDITY

Traffic was heavy coming off the bridge
and I took the road to the right, the wrong one,
and got stuck in the car for hours.

Most nights I rushed out into the evening
without paying attention to the trees,
whose names I didn’t know,
or the birds, which flew heedlessly on.

I couldn’t relinquish my desires
or accept them, and so I strolled along
like a tiger that wanted to spring,
but was still afraid of the wildness within.

The iron bars seemed invisible to others,
but I carried a cage around inside me.

I cared too much what other people thought
and made remarks I shouldn’t have made.
I was silent when I should have spoken.

Forgive me, philosophers,
I read the Stoics but never understood them.

I felt that I was living the wrong life,
spiritually speaking,
while halfway around the world
thousands of people were being slaughtered,
some of them by my countrymen.

So I walked on—distracted, lost in thought—
and forgot to attend to those who suffered
far away, nearby.

Forgive me, faith, for never having any.

I did not believe in God,
who eluded me.

--Edward Hirsch

Comments

[Bob]

It doesn't take a "neo-conservative apologists" to support fair trials. And it's more defensible than you think. Let's see you leave the tofu and crystals and try combat. You may not comprehend or appreciate it, but these kids are trying their hardest to defend people like you. Go figure.

[Karl]

Many of those kids do believe (at least they did when they first went) that they are in Iraq to defend us. If only that were true. The fact is that what they are doing there is making the whole world a more dangerous place and making us the most feared and hated country in the world.

Those kids were not trained to be occupiers. It is not a suprise that some of them are flipping out. They have been placed in a situation far over their heads. I blame the liar and traitor in chief and the rest of the cabal in the white house.

[Brian]

Bob, I'm all in favor of fair trials. But it doesn't take a trial to realize that American troops are killing Iraqi innocents with very little or no provocation. That's a well documented fact. And that was my main point in this post.

I do eat tofu. Don't have any crystals. I do have a black belt in karate, so have done a lot of unarmed combat. Had a high lottery number in Vietnam era, so missed out on armed combat. I suspect I would have handled myself just fine.

Lastly, I don't feel like I need defending from Iraqi insurgents. What I need defending from is Al Qaeda, the guys that Bush diverted his attention from when he invaded Iraq.

[Bob]

Your "documentation" has a source. I suggest you check its objectivity.

Whether you feel you need defending is not important. Most of those kids know what they're doing and are proud of it.

Karate? Please.

[Rain]

Every war ever fought has atrocities in them. It's the nature of war. There are no John Wayne, clean-cut, tidy wars in real life. People should not send others to war unless they are prepared for the nature of what happens, what it does to those fighting it ,and the country who sent them. Atrocities are not the norm but they are going to happen-- they happen right on our streets in the USA too. I don't like the idea of blaming people who have no choice but to be there, who were naive maybe to believe their government but now would be shot or imprisoned if they didn't obey orders. It's all very well to say how awful but imagine walking down your street with no idea who might smile at you one moment and blow apart your friend the next. That does things to people. The fault is that we are there at all and I really hope people don't turn on the soldiers as they did in Vietnam because most are just ordinary guys, doing their best to stay alive. You are right about it being an occupation now and not a war. To me, it was a mistake going in and won't be less of one for staying. Vote democrat in the fall and maybe there is a chance to rethink this. If we stay with Republican majority, there is none. Bush can't admit he made mistakes-- ever. He will have to be forced to admit it