I have read that article three times and have had the same basic reaction each time.
I don't think the average person has even a clue about combat and what it is really all about. The so-called rules of combat are widely written about by those who have never fought on a battlefield.
I hate to say it, but when the shooting starts, rules go out the window. It is my life and your death or vice versa and sneaky, tricky and dirty often prevails.
The sexual abuse of two women combatants captured on a battlefield is a terrible thing, but it pales against the bloody slaughter of humans on the same battlefields. I say slaughter because, often, the bodies are torn apart. It is not pretty.
And bullets, explosives, and madmen wielding machetes, do not differentiate sex and age. Men, women and children are slaughtered on battlefields everyday.
There are also many documented cases of male POWs being sexually abused. I guess if their name was Jessica or Sue some might consider it newsworthy. I thought the writer abused a woman when he went back 12 years to tell the story of another American woman.
I don't buy his universal expert reference either. Except in a movie, I never heard about an NVA or VC female POW being sexually assaulted. I did hear stories of American male POWs being abused. All battlefields are different and yet they are the same.
Perhaps, just perhaps...if the press could somehow tell the story of the true nature of war. If they could bring the sight, sound and smell right to us...something might change. For nobody hates war more than those who have fought one. The true ugliness of war is a story of baseless acts of incredible proportions.
The soldiers fighting usually have no personal agenda or vendetta against the opposition. They are fighting for their lives and the lives of their buddies. Though that does not appear to be true for the current crop of religious terrorists, it matters little. The results are the same. The bloody massacre of humans is what war is all about. If not massacred, various forms of what would otherwise be intolerable abuse is often perpetrated on captured participants.
War sucks!
But our opponents have clearly stated their objective is, "To kill all Americans, kill all Jews and kill all Christians." I am concerned that we may not be able to defeat them before they accomplish their goal if we follow the so-called nice rules-of-war rigorously. Sneaky, tricky and dirty is easier for our soldiers when they know their opponent follows no rules.
I am not concerned about American pacifists, who seem willing to accept their eventual slaughter or oppressive domination. They are loud..but they are a minority. Most Americans have always been willing to fight to protect our way of life and to end severe oppression elsewhere. |
