Torture, Napalm, and Cluster Bombs, Oh My!

"Don't talk to me about atrocities in war; all war is an atrocity"
Lord Kitchener

You can say that war is hell, and you'd be correct. As we have studied history, we have learned (or not) that all nations that entered this hell voluntarily, and not out of the necessity to defend the borders of their countries or the citizens within, have been not only judged by history to have been aggressors in these campaigns, but most were utterly defeated in time. When you venture voluntarily or eagerly into hell, there is a pact made with the forces of evil. A human being cannot contemplate the slaughter of other human beings without becoming evil himself. And once killing is justified for whatever reason, democracy, freedom, oil, or ideology, the human taking the life of another human crosses a line that divides rational beings and monsters. Many Americans who have supported the war in Iraq have expressed shock and dismay about the instances of torture and even murder by members of our armed forces. I'm not sure what these same supporters of the war expected soldiers to do once the occupation began, but soldiers are trained and armed to kill. That's what they do. And citizens of occupied countries usually resist. These are things that we have learned (or not) from studying history.

If you look at modern warfare on a large scale, and you're okay with it, then I can hardly think that you should be upset by a single act of an insurgent being tortured to death. Okay, it happened over a period of several days, and being repeatedly beaten with blunt instruments can make several days seem like a lifetime, but what's the problem? The soldiers were trying to save lives by getting this guy to talk. Unfortunately, they tried too hard, and when he ceased to talk, or even scream, they realized that the interrogation methods might have backfired.

Oops.

If you support war, and think that it's justified, then one death, albeit, painful and accidental death, can hardly be troubling when compared to the burning alive of enemy soldiers, or even possibly civilians. When you enter hell of your own free will, bombing heavily populated cities such as Fallujah doesn't seem so bad, after all the citizens of this city are almost certainly giving aid and comfort to the enemy of freedom. And if you happen to occupy the country where the bombing of civilians takes place, you can easily shield it from the eyes of the voting public, who might take offense to dropping 500 lb bombs in a residential area, even though they continue to support the pact America has made with the devil.

This is war after all, do you expect that we have sent heavily armed troops to Iraq to open schools and hospitals? If we were going to do that, we would have sent school teachers armed with books and pencils, or doctors and nurses. We didn't, we sent soldiers.

If you support the war, then you agree to all of the horrors that accompany the act. Because war even when waged in self defense involves these ugly realities like cluster bombs and land mines.

When you vote for war, don't pretend to be shocked and outraged at the means by which we wage it. Dealing with the devil has it's costs, and if you don't put a huge price tag on your soul, why cry about the loss of it? After all, history is written by the winners, and if we win, our deal with the evil forces can always be glossed over.

Only losers are ever found guilty of war crimes.

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