<I am guessing the top will take a page from ENRON Skilling’s prepared script, ‘I didn’t know what was going on, and so I am not responsible’.
The core is rotting, and the rot goes always to the top of the core, in a fundamental way.
Little wonder the US administration refuses to enter into the war crimes agreement. All is becoming clear to all.>
I think I'd prefer the bullying by Americans than the explorations in cruelty and bodily dismemberment as carried out by Saddam's and Uday's sidekicks [and themselves]. But it would still irritate me somewhat, or perhaps at least annoy me a little to have American thugs beating me around and forcing me into such situations as were described.
I wonder how Americans would feel if their soldiers or civilians were treated in the same way. They'd get saliva and spittle all over the screen.
Lt Calley was let off lightly. No Nuremberg trial for him.
But on "I was just following orders" seems to be reversed for the Americans to "I was not giving orders" so it was "Nothing to do with me, even though I was in charge. The buck stops somewhere else".
When we hear how the military trains their soldiers, it's not surprising that they carry on like that. Dehumanizing people seems to be part of the process of their training, which to me is a faulty way of training people. It is also a weak way of training because it teaches that the enemy isn't smart, thoughtful, dedicated, considerate, reasonable, but is some subhuman species needing elimination, which will of course lead to little blunders such as Osama flying aeroplanes into very big buildings. Thinking of the enemy as cowards is a mistake, but that's a common refrain in talking about the evil-doers. They are obviously NOT cowards.
I noticed a Fox news item using the phrase "Homicide bombers" because they didn't want to write "Suicide bombers" which is much more descriptive of the situation. Some IRA bombers were neither suicide nor homicide [giving warnings to clear an area]. But suicide bombers are invariably targeting homicide as part of the process, which is an honorable tradition in human conflict. Think of the Japanese Kamikaze pilots, as just one example. "I'll die, but I'll take some of them with me".
The USA seems to be getting a lot wrong. They should hire me as their NUN consultant. Heck, I'd do it for no pay if they are short of a few bob.
Mqurice
PS: Disgusted? Wow, that's one of your more expressive comments. Keep it in perspective though. It doesn't seem they killed anyone [not in that lot of news items anyway]. Normal police in city streets can be fairly brutal pieces of work too, even in downtown Auckland. |
