THE PRICE OF WAR!
I have been thinking on many of the things that have happened since the start of this war, and I have come to one conclusion that I am fairly certain of. The conclusion is that there are certain necessary costs that must be paid in waging war, such as the human rights violations that have occurred in the last two years in Iraq. Pillage, Abuse, and even Torture will inevitably result from the waging of war. Period. Countless historical examples have proven and reproven this fact. However, instead of acknowledging this fact in the modern era, we persist in promoting an impossible and ambivalent attitude in our soldiers and our people. They are taught to treat with human dignity those same people they are sent to kill.
The truth is that that message, that unmanageable duality, is intended more for the people at home than the people abroad. It matters very much how war is perceived by the People, but very little how it is waged by the soldiers in the field. They cannot be decieved, but their opinions and their suffering count for almost nothing in the political arena. Fortunately for those in power, those who vote need not understand those who fight.
So Abuse and Suffering is the natural and inevitable consequence of waging war. If that is true, then the question of whetner to wage war is no longer so simple. We must ask whether the expected gain outweighs the cost. After al the careful consideration I can hope to give it, I must protest that our current war is not worth it. Not at all.
OGW
I have been thinking on many of the things that have happened since the start of this war, and I have come to one conclusion that I am fairly certain of. The conclusion is that there are certain necessary costs that must be paid in waging war, such as the human rights violations that have occurred in the last two years in Iraq. Pillage, Abuse, and even Torture will inevitably result from the waging of war. Period. Countless historical examples have proven and reproven this fact. However, instead of acknowledging this fact in the modern era, we persist in promoting an impossible and ambivalent attitude in our soldiers and our people. They are taught to treat with human dignity those same people they are sent to kill.
The truth is that that message, that unmanageable duality, is intended more for the people at home than the people abroad. It matters very much how war is perceived by the People, but very little how it is waged by the soldiers in the field. They cannot be decieved, but their opinions and their suffering count for almost nothing in the political arena. Fortunately for those in power, those who vote need not understand those who fight.
So Abuse and Suffering is the natural and inevitable consequence of waging war. If that is true, then the question of whetner to wage war is no longer so simple. We must ask whether the expected gain outweighs the cost. After al the careful consideration I can hope to give it, I must protest that our current war is not worth it. Not at all.
OGW
posted by OGWiseman at 1:44 AM
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