Thursday, June 30, 2005
My short-lived fantasyS gets a break in Qatar in a few weeks and I had a fantasy of flying there to be with him. So much for that idea: 3:05:41 PM | Hey Baby, I don't know exactly when I will get to Qatar, but I have to stay on a small base and can't leave. Also, no one is allowed to visit. Essentially, it is a jail away from jail. I love you S 
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Rieckhoff on BushRead Paul Rieckhoff's response to Bush's speech at Huffington Post. I rarely visit Huffington Post because the neocon comments make me too angry (remember Elizabeth? That started on Huff Post), but I do look out for Paul's entries. He's always spot on. 2:45:46 PM |
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Our war against an "abstract noun" and our glorification of warriorshipThe New York Times on Afghanistan from today's paper: 12:12:27 PM |
The Taliban's spring offensive has sounded an alarm for the United
States military and the Karzai government, both of which had said that
the Taliban were largely defeated and that the nation was consolidating
behind its first elected national leader.
"We were wrong," a senior Afghan government official acknowledged, saying of the Taliban, "It seems they were spending the time preparing." He insisted on anonymity because of the delicacy of the subject within the government. While the government blames the Taliban - and its backers in Pakistan and Al Qaeda - for the violence, the American military is frequently blamed by Afghans for drawing radical Islamic fighters to the country and then failing to control them. "The Americans are the cause of the insecurity," said Abdullah Mahmud, 26, a law student in Kabul. "If they were not here, there would not be any insecurity. The money they are spending on military expenses - if they spent half of it on the Afghan Army and police and raised their skills, then there would not be any security questions." "Foreign officials" attribute the distrust and anxiety of the people to the broken nature of the government and the overwhelming corruption on all strata of the country. From everything S has told me, that's probably true. It doesn't help, though, that we are building a reputation for ourselves across the world as insensitive bullies who are motivated solely by self-interest. We are hurting ourselves at every turn, so much so that I can't help but think it's part of the administration's plan, that they really do want chaos and have no desire to "win." In defense of our occupations, neocons point to Germany and Japan and say that we've been there for 60 years so we should expect to do the same in Iraq and Afghanistan. What troubles me about this argument is that it's based on the assumption that there will be a time when our troops won't be in danger, when they will be peace-time soldiers on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, like we are in Japan and German today, and not full country occupiers. There's a real possibility that our troops will still be getting shot at 60 years from now in Iraq. Who knows about Afghanistan, a place that has been so riddled with war for so many years the word "peace" itself seems impossible to define. Are we comfortable with that? World War II was a war of armies against armies, not a war of army against ideology (or as Lapham says in July Harper's, against "an abstract noun"). It seems foolish to expect the same outcome or even to compare the two in the first place, though I see how politically beneficial it is to bring up the good war with its righteous cause when trying to sell this one, a war without end or purpose or even distinct "enemies." I see a growing warrior worship culture and that worries me too. One commenter on Op Truth said that soldiers were like a different species, a superior species, bound by honor unlike civilians, in response to a post about how dangerous it is for Bush to make soldiers "exceptional." And last night while watching Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days (an excellent show, btw), I saw a commercial for a new Bochco show called "Over There" that debuts next month. From the previews it looks like a "Saving Private Ryan" in Iraq meets "ER," with relationship and war drama intermixed. I'm afraid it will glorify war even if it doesn't mean to. It goes without saying how well it serves the administration to have a divided culture of warriors and non-warriors, with a vision of warriors as elites. Yes it's hypocritical of them to say warriors are superior and then treat them so terribly. The administration has a nearly $3 billion VA funding shortfall, and they've screwed over the troops with lack of equipment and planning. But the myth is strong and sometimes it's enough. If young people see the honor and bravery of soldiers (and many are honorable and brave, like S of course!), and see that as something different and exceptional and unachievable in civilian life, then they will sign up no matter what. I don't know how you fight this except to reinstate a draft, where everyone may become "exceptional" by simply having their number called. Man these are dangerous times, aren't they?
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"I can't forget the dead."War is a serious business. This is why it's so important that our
leadership use their power wisely and not send people to war on a
hunch, or faulty intelligence, or for political profit. War means death
and destruction and ruined lives. 11:46:26 AM | Keith Klume from Operation Truth wrote about the helicopter that was shot down in Afghanistan a few days ago near where S is right now and his own experiences of loss in Afghanistan. Here's an excerpt: Now a CH-47 has been shot down and everyone aboard is believed to have been killed in the crash. This is after another CH-47 crashed April 6, killing 15 soldiers and government contractors. I don't know how much time I had in the back of Chinooks, but it was a lot. Time and circumstances were on my side and I made it back safe after every flight. At times I feel guilty because I made it back home. Earlier this month two soldiers were killed on the landing zone at Fire Base Shkin, a few miles from the border with The next day some of them were wounded and two were killed in a firefight in the area. If I had stayed one more day I would have probably been there with them. I spent the previous week going out on missions with them every day. I guess I was lucky. I only had to have my ankle put back together when I got home. My time in the military is over. At times I miss the job, but mostly I miss the people. I can't forget the dead.
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Coincidence?11:25:56 AM |
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Last update: 8/24/05; 8:18:33 PM .
