And yet in the 90s, the military was declaring that new precision guided munitions would do just that. We could target areas with a margin of error of just a few feet. The reality is that the illusion of ultra-humanistic warfare has been debunked, but the expectations of the public have not been tempered at all. As a result, there will always be demands for casualty-free warfare.
Deckard's point bears repeating. Atrocities like this are unavoidable by any side in a war once it has begun. It is not that the US soldiers are worse or more brutal than other soldiers, in fact, I'm confident that our soldiers are on average more humane. But sh_t like this is inevitable in any military conflict. People need to realize that going in and that is why we should set the bar very high for military intervention. And that is why the Bush Administration's campaign of deceit and misinformation to build support for invading Iraq was and is such a f'ing abomination. These incidents are a reality of war and in a democracy they should receive wide media coverage so that the citizenry can make informed decisions about when it is worth it to go to war and when it is not.
Yeah totally. Vietnam raised the bar in public awareness, or maybe Vietnam was the casualty of a more sophisticated media. As technology becomes more sophisticated and Rummy's Joint Vision becomes more of a reality, our military and civilian planners will become detached from the battlefield. They'll sell to the public as something sanitary and efficient. Isn't it odd that we're in a war, but the public hasn't felt the effects of mobilization? People just go on with their daily lives while Iraq is happening in the abstract, plus a few news stories. The dehumanitizing effect is definitely there, and we don't really know what is going on.
Pointing out the truth that war is nothing but destructive is not celebrating. It just looks that way to you because your mistaken ideals have "lost".
on a related note, scientists have made an important breakthrough in perhaps finding a cure for neoconservatism. research demonstrates that neocons are born without a sense of irony. we can only pray that one day a cure can be found.
I agree with most of what you said but I wouldn't necessarily say "unacheivable standard." Yes it would be impossible to guarentee a war where no one in the US military killed civilians without just cause as people are human and war is dehumanizing. What the military can do is to hold people accountable by maintaining a high standard of justice and prosecuting the individuals who do things like this as opposed to sweeping it under the wrong. That is a very achievable standard that says that the US military holds its soldiers accountable.
Who is celebrating? Almost all of the posts here are saying that most of the soldiers are good people but that things like this happen in war and when they do they should be held accountable. What are you arguing for? That we should ignore incidents like this? That we should encourage incidents like this? You argue a lot about fighting Jihadists and terrorists but whats the point of fighting against their ideology when we aren't willing to hold ourselves and our soldiers to a higher standard.
John Freakin' Murtha is celebrating. He's not even waiting for the military to complete the process. As I said, I'm all for punishing those guys if they did wrong. What I don't appreciate is the left-wing grandstanding.
Space Aliens From Luxembourg: A Horror Story by Stefan Molyneux Link Let us imagine that tomorrow morning, when you flip on CNN, you see Wolf Blitzer being jostled by surging crowds. Everyone is running, staring at the sky in fear. "Space aliens have landed in Luxembourg!" cries Wolf, wide-eyed and almost hysterical, "and they have a message for all mankind!" There is a burst of static, and then you see a drooling, bulging-eyed monstrosity gripping prepared notes in its slimy sea-green tentacles. "Citizens of Earth!" it gurgles, "We bring good news! We see that, all over the world, citizens live under the slavery of what you call ‘governments.’ Millions of you are unjustly imprisoned, billions are stolen from you through taxation, and government-owned WMDs threaten the very survival of the planet! This is a moral abomination, and we have come to put a stop to it!" Well! you think, munching your toast, this might bring my property taxes down a bit! The alien continues: "We are fully dedicated to freeing your from the monstrous moral evil of these governments, and we have decided to start with the United States of America!" Although you are not a great fan of the US government, a strange sense of foreboding rises in your stomach. Sure enough, the slavering alien continues: "Freedom does not come cheap, of course; sacrifices must be made. As we dislodge your existing government, there will be suffering – but no matter! Freedom is worth every tear, every sacrifice!" Well that’s interesting, you think, stirring your cereal slowly. I don’t see how they’re going to be sacrificing anything, but let’s see what they mean… "We will use a two-phased approach to set you free," gurgles the alien, squinting into the camera with at least a dozen eyes. "First, we will impose economic sanctions, designed to force your leaders to relinquish their ill-gotten power. As part of this process, we will use ray shields to block international trade, ground your airplanes, and irradiate your food and medicine." Two of the alien’s eyes dart down to check some figures. "Based on prior experience, we calculate that this phase will cause the deaths of no more than 5–6 million of your children. Also, about 13% of your newborns will die before reaching the age of 5. But we are willing to make that sacrifice, because we believe it’s worth it. For freedom!" The space alien frowns and flips some pages. Your mouth hangs open. "We shall keep these sanctions in place for thirteen or so years. If, after that time, your leaders have not given up their power, we will move on to stage 2. In stage 2, we will directly invade your country, in order to overthrow your existing government and replace it with a better government. This will also entail some suffering. We imagine that approximately 20–30 of your cities will be destroyed, just over a million of you will be killed, about 8 million will be wounded, and tens of millions of you will be rendered homeless. About 50% of you will lose your jobs. Most of your roads, bridges, electrical and water systems will be obliterated. Your food supply will be largely destroyed. But don’t worry – our goal it to replace your existing leaders with new leaders, and we believe that is worth all the blood, sweat, tears and deaths you will experience!" With a clatter, your cereal bowl falls to the floor, spraying milk all over your legs. Your pregnant wife wanders into the room and asks what on earth is going on. "Wake the kids!" you whisper hoarsely. "We’ve got to get out of here!" But the space aliens from Luxembourg are as good as their word. There is no escape. Shimmering purple ray shields spring up around the borders, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the country. The aliens set up "no fly zones" which is pretty much the entire US airspace. Several times a day, heat-rays slice down from buzzing spaceships, burning alive hundreds of citizens as they huddle in their homes screaming with terror. Every now and then, the space aliens drop leaflets explaining their actions. "Citizens of America," they read, "we are not angry with you! We are only angry with your political leaders that subjugate you! Be patient as we work to remove your leaders! We cannot allow them to continue to wield their WMDs – we shall save you from their evil!" However, you notice, the leaders don’t seem to be harmed at all by the alien sanctions. In fact, their wealth and power seem to grow. As the economy dies, however, your life – and the life of your neighbours – becomes an unrecognizable medieval hell. There is almost no medicine, clean running water, or electricity. Children and the old die like flies, and are buried in empty stadiums. Dysentery and cholera run rampant. People flee the cities to live in tent communities. After your wife gives birth, your baby dies within a few weeks. As the sanctions wear on, frightening rumours begin to circulate – rumours so horrifying that they can scarcely be believed. One rumour says that the very political leaders that the space aliens claim to hate were in fact funded, sponsored and installed by the space aliens to begin with! Another says that the very same WMDs that the aliens claim to be horrified by were given to your leaders by the space aliens in the first place! Finally, after thirteen long years – after millions of children have died and an entire generation has grown up knowing only despair, poverty, death, disease and hopelessness – the day finally arrives. Invasion! Endless fleets of spaceships flash across the skies over America, turning cities into flames. They claim to be aiming for the leaders, but instead over a million men, women and children get burned up in their own homes, screaming and burrowing for shelter. The war is relatively short, since electromagnetic rays disable almost all the US defense systems. The space aliens take over the burning wreckage of Washington, and immediately impose rigid curfews. Because some Americans – perhaps those whose children or wives were murdered by the sanctions or the fleets of spaceships – have formed an underground rebellion against the occupation, alien troops start invading homes and dragging men and women into concentration camps without trial. One night, your door is kicked in and your eldest son is dragged away. His screams are muffled by the black bag over his head, and you stand there helpless, sick with fear. The next morning, you drift around your tent city, asking questions. Most people turn away, terrified that you are an informer for the aliens. But a few tell you terrible stories about the concentration camps. Hushed voices tell tales of torture. And rape. And murder. And you slowly find out that more than a quarter of a million Americans have been dragged into these gulags without trial or access to lawyers. No one knows what becomes of them. Every day, your wife lines up in front of one of these sprawling camps, hoping for a chance to find out about your son. She is told nothing. He could be alive or dead – there is no way to tell. You are desperate to find him, but are terrified that if your wife keeps asking, she will disappear too. Then, one sweltering summer day, New York is encircled by spaceships. From blaring loudspeakers, all the women and children are told to flee the city. Any men who try to escape are beaten and turned back. The aliens turn off New York’s water and electricity. After about 2 million people flee New York, the space aliens burn it to the ground with their heat rays. Hospitals are targeted. The screams of the dying can be heard from across the river. As the occupation grinds on, there seems to be no end in sight. The aliens, who said that their mission was to free Americans, are now building permanent military bases and have installed a puppet government that they control. One evening, as you sit with the remnants of your family in front of your ragged tent, starving and terrified, you hear a tinny voice coming from a neighbour’s radio. One of the alien leaders is complaining that Americans seem "ungrateful" for their liberation. "I guess there are just some bad apples," he sighs, "who hate us for our innate goodness." And as you close your eyes and try to sleep, you think of your son, missing for years, picturing him bruised and broken in some airless cell, and wonder if he is better off alive or dead. May 18, 2006 Stefan Molyneux [send him mail] has been an actor, comedian, gold-panner, graduate student, and software entrepreneur. His first novel, Revolutions was published in 2004, and he maintains a blog. Listen to his podcast, which you can get by clicking here – or, you like iTunes better, you can click here. For more on DROs, please see my archives. He is host of Freedomain Radio.
That is a pretty interesting piece, but it leave out a few important details that would make the situation more comparable to Iraq. First, the government being replaced couldn't be one chosen by the people that could be voted out every two years. Second, the government would have to be composed of an ethnic minority that oppresses another minority and the majority, and both of them would have to make failed attempts to overthrow the government, resulting in a high number of fatalities from the government using WMDs against them. A few other changes would need to be made as well, but just that is enough to render the point of the story meaningless.
How is he celebrating? By hoping for a quick withdrawal to avoid these kinds of things in the future? By trying to bring attention to the problems of this war? If we had listened to him, many more American soldiers might be alive or uninjured right now. Given his military experience and background, perhaps its an actual concern for the soldiers, rather than grandstanding.
I just woke up after Murhta's American war crimes party! I am soooooo hung over. But it was a great party. Murtha had about 5 different bands there, and since we all hate the troops, we took a bat and hit a pinata in the shape of a U.S. soldier. I don't know if I was sicker from all the Tequila or from all the marshmellows we roasted over burning American flags. All I know is that it was a blast!
How about waiting until the UN inspectors finish their job before lauching preemptive strike on falsified intelligence.
I heard Murtha's comments and I will agree that they are premature but they weren't anything celebratory. What he said was that he could understand how soldiers could do such horrific acts because of the stress they were put under. As someone who served in Korea and Vietnam its not surprising that Murtha might have some insight into a situation like that.
