Ira,
Thanks for your thoughtful message. I was particularly impressed by the wisdom expressed by your daughter. She must have gotten it from her mother. <g>
Re: Wrong in the sense that when aberrations occur, you see it as the normal activity of the US troops.
Apparently you know little, if anything, about history. The Abu Gharib incident tinyurl.com
is merely the latest in a long list of "aberrations".
Starting in the colonial era, the genocidal attacks on the aboriginal population went on for at least three centuries, reducing the population of Native Americans by 90% over that period. That's called genocide, and it is part of the dark history of this nation. Then we concomitantly had the era of massive kidnapping and forced labor called "slavery". A patently criminal and abusive process of unjust enrichment for a tiny elite. Never forget the slaves who rebelled and ended up crucified for their efforts to save themselves for a living Hell imposed on them by, let's face it, racist white bigots.
As far as war atrocities is concerned, we need to educate you about the fire bombings of the cities of Japan tinyurl.com. I assume you realize by now that the use of the atomic weapons was completely cynical and used merely for the U.S. to secure an advantage in the division of the spoils of war with the U.S.S.R. gaining too much territory in Eastern Asia in the summer of 1945.
During Viet Nam, atrocities were more the norm than the exception. My Lai is only the most infamous. However, the Toledo Blade won the Pulitzer Prize this year for a series of articles on how de-humanizing war is, and how atrocious the American aggressors in SE Asia actually were:
tinyurl.com
So, don't even begin to think that you can fool me into thinking that we will see any real punishment or real reform in the military. They will scapegoat a few low status individuals, and that will be the end of it. Recall how severely Lt. William Calley was treated after the My Lai court martial? He got off with a slap on the wrist.
Or how about the fighter jocks who cut a gondola cable in the Italian Alps a few years ago and sent about 30 people to their deaths? No punishment at all.
Or how about the hopped-up adrenaline addled pilot who dropped a 500 pound bomb on a Canadian squadron in Afghanistan a couple years ago? Again, no punishment for this jerk who violate standard operating procedure.
Or how about the submarine captain who destroyed the Japanese fishing boat and sent about 10 Japanese to their deaths in Hawaiian waters? He lost his command, but he kept his pension and there was no court martial.
The same thing will happen this time.
You seem to be drastically uninformed about how the military sees itself as being above the law. I'm surprised at your naivete. |
