No organization is free of disturbed individuals who perpetuate illegal acts. I'll wager when comparing apples to apples in regard to age and other social-economic factors, military personnel measure up quite well with your average American. That comparison is what has been severely missing in your repeated posts condemning the military. And it appears no matter how someone responds; you will fail to consider that aspect.
CB thinks it's not just a matter of a few bad apples; she's thinking there's something more systemic happening. In response, many are implying she's naive if she thinks these sorts of things don't happen all the time -- and furthermore, why isn't she (and the NYT) as outraged by atrocities that happen in our own prisons and on our own streets?
But here's the thing: atrocities committed by our military should be more upsetting to us than those committed in our prison system, or by bus drivers, or short-order cooks, or almost any other segment of our population. Convicted felons don't represent my values as an American, but people in the military do. They are my face and every other American's face in Iraq and Afghanistan and around the world -- our official face, not the unauthorized "ugly American" face sometimes presented by private American citizens in other countries.
Even though these stories -- Abu Ghraib and the rest -- are being used by the anti-American mob as levers to bring down the country, that doesn't mean it's somehow anti-American, partisan politics, or just generally naive about (in)human nature to be especially upset by stories of this sort.
We need to stay in Iraq and to continue taking the fight to the enemy as best we can -- militarily, financially, spiritually, and every which way we can.
At the same time we also have to keep trying to live up to our own ideals, even after we sometimes fall and fail badly.
We are the "Can Do!" country. We keep trying. That's what we do.
 |
