Rant on the war in Iraq

[jsrussell]

So I was listening to NPR today on my drive to an interview Terry Gross was having with a U.S. soldier / platoon leader that had served in Iraq.  He was talking candidly about his experiences there.  I listened to him talk about hating Iraqi's and how their training helps foster this.  I listened to him talk about how they all wanted to kill the '

Comments

[goudananda]

There is no draft. So any soldiers there got a job killing people or doing the paperwork for those...who kill people.

Our media doesn't show us anything about the war. It's sterile. There's no blood, no gore. Hearing about an explosion with this many casualties is different than seeing dead people laying around on the ground.

Those are the two main differences between Nam and Iraq.

[anonymous]

Thank you soooo very much for sharing this information. I appreciate that you are the kind of person that keeps this well informed.

I agree with you wholeheartedly that the way we can end this particular war is to have different elected officials in the white house which is one of the major reasons why I feel more passionately about this political race.

I just guess I'm surprised because it seems that we are a very vocal nation and will make a big todo about much much smaller issues...but instead of outrage or action I seem to just hear complacency.

wadda ya EXPECT?

[kayakman]

he's a hired mercenary whose job is to kill people whose land or stuff our govt wants...

MERCENARY

Re: wadda ya EXPECT?

[kayakman]

You're right, what did I expect? I guess I committed the usual error of wanting others to see things the way I do.

I wanted him to see the horror of innocent deaths and systematic dehumanization of that culture and think...hey wait a minute. Is that who I want out country to be? Is that who I want to be?

I'm not saying he shouldn't do his job once the orders have come down the chain and he has decided that this is what he wants to do with his life, but I guess I'm surprised he was so nonplussed. I wanted some of these tragic things to affect him...maybe not stop him from doing it, but affect him in some human way.

[spamchang]

I know for a fact that such an attitude isn't representative of the armed forces. I have friends who have pulled tours of duty in Iraq, and they are very high on winning the hearts of the people over there.

[spamchang]

Glad to hear that this particular soldiers views aren't necessarily the norm. He didn't say anything particularly shocking, I mean what did I expect right?

But, I guess I was surprised he seemed to be so unaffected by the death of civilians or that it seemed so normal for him to hate an entire culture and that their training helped to breed that into them and although he was aware of it, he didn't see anything summarily wrong with it.

[spamchang]

"More so than anywhere else, winning the hearts and minds of the communities in this area is essential to our success, and the better we befriend them the more information they give us about IEDs and upcoming attacks. They have saved our lives on many occasions by pointing out mines, bombs and IEDs before we hit them."
--from my friend who's served in Iraq and Afghanistan

I'm starting to think that news media pick out soldiers with certain opinions just to make headlines. I somehow doubt his entire division has been brainwashed to hate locals. As for whether he's xenophobic or not--I think that has more to do with the make up of his personality rather than his training. You can't train someone to be xenophobic if they're not leaning that way already. And I think that this isn't representative of our armed forces. Shame on NPR for trying to skew opinions one way and not showing that our soldiers aren't narrow-minded as such.

[satyrnine]

Serial killers talk that way

[satyrnine]

Ahem brother. Can't wait for November to roll around.

I guess growing apathetic toward what would normally be pretty horrific stuff is just a coping mechanism that kicks in to keep you somewhat sane. Afterall we as humans can't help but justify and rationalize our actions no matter what they are. There always two side to every coin as they say.

Were you ever called upon to kill in the name of our country? How did you feel about it? Did you hate or feel anything toward the 'enemy'or was it just a job you were 'hired' to do?

[satyrnine]

Fortunately my time on active duty never required me to kill anyone. And we didn't have an enemy when I was over there. Iran and Iraq were too busy lobbing missiles at each other to worry about us.

Ultimately, I felt sympathy for the man on the ground. Regardless of nationality, the individual soldier has little say in the decision that leads him into combat. More often than, these decisions are made by those who have never seen combat or even served. Or by generals so removed from combat, by time and position, that they don't remember or realize what they are sending their people into.

Hence, sympathy. That's what I feel for all those in harm's way.