Volunteer Killing Fields
I reckon most of us can pinpoint the major mistakes in our life--- conclusions and convictions that turned out to be ignominious. Some of these ill thought through notions have affected our own personal lives, and we have paid the cost. I guess what goes around comes around. But other such ill thought through notions have affected the lives of others, and these perhaps are the greater of our sins. These are the individuals we let down, not purposely, but the end result was the same---we failed them in moments of their need. And then there are political or religious nuances which have served as enablers for others, less known to us, to have suffered or died for our support of these nuances. I guess as a child one might be able to be forgiven for needless and insensitive treatment of those less blessed with looks or friends or personality or smarts. We were then part of a immature social majority mob who made these less fortunate kid's lives miserable.
As adults, this sort of mindless insensitivity to diversity, to birds of a different feather, hardly ceases, just becomes more sophisticated and deadly. We held up the holocaust as something which would 'never again' be permitted to happen. Yet it did, and continues to happen, over and over again, only to what degree is there any variation. Two million Jews died, but then so did 2 million Vietnamese, and huge numbers of Rwandans, and Iraqis, and those in Darfar, and in the Congo, and in Ireland, and in the urban wastelands of America, in the drug wars of South America, etc. Those of us who can---like myself---ward ourselves off from the reality of the killing fields, the starving fields, the homeless fields, the massive deaths from curable diseases, the widespread abuses of human rights and respect. It is really us who can run and hide for now, but at some point we will not be able to hide---the chickens will come home to roost.
I see things, think and muse about them, but mostly I just sits. Walled off in a wealthy suburban county, living in an 11th floor security guarded high rise, I view the world from a protective haven of distance from any of these cruel realities. When younger, one is in too much of a pressured hustle to see much of this clearly, and now older, with the time to focus more perceptively on these cruel realties, the ball game is, so I rationalize, out of my hands and in the hands of those still in their productive years. Yeah sure, and that is scary---- the more I Iook around the more young people I see not so much productive as hanging on for dear life. Just the usual typical cyclical recession. Really? Or are the chickens coming home to roost from multiple miscalculations on myriad issues?
Years ago I was one of those who thought using a volunteer army and contracting out military services to private contractors was a great idea. Let those who want a military life do the fighting and reduce the cost of military expenses by contracting out for many of the related support services. The result has been a massive military industrial complex which not only ends up driving foreign policy, but ensures we are always engaged in war of some sort, somewhere, at all times, and lines the pockets of politicians who steer contracts to favored companies. It was just coincidence, I suppose, that Dick Cheney was the architect of all this as former Secretary of Defense and then got appointed Chief Executive Officer of Haliburton (he had never run any company in his life) and built a personal fortune by steering government business to Haliburton. How cozy.
Now we have ended up with a massive---really massive---industry (including volunteer soldiers) whose business is to win wars. They exist to win wars. Their existence and financial security depends on wars to win. If there is no war, it is in their financial self interest to see to it that there is one somewhere. They are the ones who decide, in the absence of a strong civilian President, where war can and should be waged, how it is to be waged, and for how long. It is just another business, and by now the biggest business in our country. Most of the world now views America as one vast war machine. Air shows entertain us but terrorize much of the rest of the world. Imagine living in these countries where the sound of an American superduper plane sends chills down everyone's spine. And this kind of thing could go on for years for them. Of course there doesn't have to be a plane just some silent smart heat seeking missile looking for some warm flesh to pulverize.
A volunteer army seemed like such a great idea. Let those who are willing to fight do the fighting and those like myself, less eager or willing, do our non military thing. And like so many honestly feel, having chosen to let them do this kind of 'dirty' work, we should honor them in every way we can. It certainly sounds fair enough. But it turns out it is riddled with flaws. Not the least of which is that it enables war to occur way too easily. I mean, why not kick the shit out of somebody when you have others willing to do the deed? There are certainly enough people, here and there, who need to be taught a lesson or two for whatever 'gut' feelings some some shallow minded faith based President focuses on at any particular time. Not only, so it goes, does God support these ventures, but the wars stimulate jobs and the economy and foster mindless patriotism---the political tool of last resort.
Fraudulent wars are harder to stop now. With no draft, people don't riot in the streets. And the wars go on and on. Absent sudden attack I think no war should be started without the people voting to commence one, and I think by law, the cost of the war in question should be obligated to be paid for via current taxes, not pushed off on another generation. If WE vote for war WE should pay for it. And as the war progresses, every two years, during an election the people should have to vote to continue it, and of course pay for it. Instead, we now have ill advised wars which go on forever with the next generation paying for it. Exactly what sacrifice do the rest of us make for these wars? There was a time when everyone in the country had to sacrifice if we went to war---the Civil War, World War 1, World War 2---the real justifiable wars where countries were being defended who were under attack. Now we have pre-emptive wars launched for political, religious, or cultural reasons. If we din't attack Vietnam the whole world would be taken over by communism, and the security of the U.S. itself would be at stake. We lost that war, as well we should have, and after centuries of foreign interference, Vietnam became a legitimate sovereign nation. God, who of course, by our own certainty, supported us during that war, must be furious. I don't really know what kind of political system the Vietnamese now have, and really don't care. They don't bother others and that is good enough for me. If they like communism or royal families, or socialism, or democracy, or religious governments---whatever----I am old fashioned enough to think that is their business. Our founding fathers, every one of them, advised against foreign entanglements. How times have changed. We are going to catch all these rascals across the globe "alive or dead" and 'they can run but they can't hide". They sure are running--- by the millions--- and the rubble left behind a tribute to our arsenal of smart bombs and missiles. With hundreds of thousands of troops squirreled away in protective safe zones except for brief forays out into neighborhoods for indiscriminate terrorist hunts, the number of deaths per month has gone down. Really? Are we slowly running out of targets or are the conquered residents just bidding their time till we leave? Of course not, the residents, for the most part, like us, especially Bush, and appreciate what we have done for them---we brought democracy and freedom. Of course it is not the kind of democracy and freedom we enjoy back here, but there are elections and freedom---the kind of freedom with nothing left to lose. Bush, a picture of modesty, doesn't enter Iraq to accept the accolades of the Iraqi people, but sneaks in for a quick photo op at some military base. I would rather see him wander among the people, feel their warmth and gratitude. Ah, he is just too modest, he doesn't even do that among the American people. When is the last time Bush ever exposed himself to his own population except the wealthy or religious right?
Many nights PBS, on it's News Hour, silently displays pictures of soldiers who have died in Iraq and where they are from. Lot of white, almost all rural towns or suburban towns, with a good dose of Hispanic. Not that many blacks. I suppose, in one sense, this is then a fair thing, in that the volunteer army is almost exclusively from Red States or the Red area of the Blue states. The question which naturally arises, is "Why are these young people volunteering to join the military which practically guarantees they end up in places like Afghanistan or Iraq?" It seems a strange career choice.
I am in no position to answer this question with any solid facts to support my answers here. But it does seem logical to assume most of these volunteers did so for the following reasons: they needed some sort of financial security (a Job), they see the military as an outlet for their own interest in guns or violence, they have a need to belong to some group, they genuinely believe in right wing politics, or they simply are bored to death and need some adventure. I think a lot of young people have a strong need to feel important. I know maybe 3-4 local young people, well enough to have frequent conversations with them, who can't wait to join the military. Frankly, they are very scary. Obsessed with guns and immersed in macho-ism, they are fearless enthusiasts of war. And therein lies my real opposition to a volunteer army.
I don't really believe these kind of young people belong in the service at all---under any circumstances. I wouldn't want them to be a cop in my neighborhood let alone be part of any invading force occupying my neighborhood. Knowing them, it is not hard to realize why all kinds of American soldier atrocities happen to civilians in the invaded lands. These are nice enough kids, at least on the surface, and I admire their fearlessness, but turned loose in the military I pity any citizens of the invaded lands who attract their attention. These kind of kids are addicted to every kind of violent video game available. It is like a sport to them. What percent of volunteers are of this nature I have no idea. What we do know is that when soldiers come back from the killing fields, a far greater percentage of soldiers will return desensitized to violence than ever went over there with such de-sensitivity. And, a good number of other soldiers will be so traumatized by all the senseless violence perpetuated by humans against humans, that they will have trouble with any kind of normal social interaction. I guess this is called the post-traumatic syndrome. These are the kids that signed up because they needed a job, an income, or thought they would be righteous soldiers bringing peace and security to people in need. These are the kids who are found among the 6000 soldiers who have tried or succeeded in committing suicide---a higher number than have been killed in combat, if I can use the word combat loosely. When there were organized uniformed armies fighting each other with weapons that required some sort of battle field and strategy, soldiers could suck it up and do their duty. Those soldiers were genuine heroes, having won the Battle of this or that. It is all different today.
Today, we are always the invaders. We are never the one fighting to save any other country from invading armies, WE ARE the invading army. And there are no opposing uniformed armies to face on a battlefield. The 'enemy' could be almost anyone not wearing an American military uniform. If terrorism is defined as the killing of innocent civilians for the sheer purpose of making a point and frightening leaders of your opposition into desisting, then war today comes down to terrorism on both sides. Each side terrorizes the other in whatever way they can. We use missiles and smart bombs and super automatic weapons and sophisticated weapons of every sort. The opposition use suicide bombers, land mines, sniper attacks, kidnappings, etc. And it becomes a stale-mate. We can by far kill the most (in the current war 4500 to hundreds of thousands), but they can kill us at a rate which requires the expenditure of vast amounts of money to keep the death rate to our own troops down. Success is measured in body counts. Any kind of body is counted. One American soldier, stationed at the main prisoner detention facility in Iraq said that probably 85% of the prisoners there are not terrorists at all but were fingered by someone mad at them. When someone calls in to one of the safe zones that so and so in the neighborhood is a terrorist, often American troops then form a convoy, race into the neighborhood in the middle of the night and grab the suspected 'terrorist'. There is seldom any need to prove anyone a terrorist. Accusations suffice.
When atrocities against civilians by American soldiers is reported I can never get mad at the American soldiers. It is only human to react harshly to seeing your buddies get blown up in front of you by land mines, sniper fire, etc. Add to this these soldiers who joined the armed forces precisely to engage in this sort of violence, and you have a real mess on your hand. It is not too great an exaggeration to state that if an American soldier is going to kill anyone over there it is most likely to be a possible terrorist than any known terrorist. With some exceptions, the best Americans to conduct a war are not likely to sign up to be in the armed services. If one took the top 20% of students selected by other students or teachers as 'most likely to succeed' what percent of them are volunteering to go into the armed services? They ought to keep track of this figure and then trash the notion of a volunteer army. In wars like Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc. you need bodies not the smartest or even the bravest of our young. The most sophisticated of weapons are often simple enough to use. The 4,500 soldiers killed in Iraq were killed mostly by being at the wrong place at the wrong time, not in any kind of open battle between opposing armies. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time in wars like this does not make anyone a hero. It makes them a victim. Period. You really don't cheer victims.
While many American citizens genuinely cheer these soldiers on, I feel nothing but sympathy and disgust for the waste of human life on both sides. When George Gut-Feeling Bush declares we are winning I never can figure out what we are winning. Apparently if the body count is down, for the time being, we are winning. Just like when crime in a certain neighborhood goes up steeply and you saturate the neighborhood with cops, the crime usually goes gown---for the time being. I doesn't mean the neighborhood is now a good neighborhood, it doesn't mean anything at all has been solved but to temporarily decrease the violence for the time being. Common sense tells us that when the Americans leave, whether it be tomorrow, next month, next year, 2 years from now---the Shiites will then take control----possess the power and most of the wealth----just like the Sunnis used to, and law and order will be the same kind imposed by Suddam. There are so many people in so many places throughout Iraq waiting to extract revenge for the death of loved ones, or the loss of homes and property, or the loss of jobs, that any kind of nandy pandy notion that we have brought peace and security to Iraq is a cruel hoax. Now add to that the rebuilding mess, the millions of Iraqis who have fled the country, the accepted use of violence to solve conflict, and all we have created is hell hole seeped in human tragedy.
Thus I no longer support a volunteer army. I no longer support going to war unless the people vote to go to war and pay for it as we go (unless suddenly attacked). The draft is the only fair way to spread the burden of war around, and the taxation for war should be progressive by age. Make the senior citizens pay a price in their pocketbook for voting to send our young off to war. War is sometimes necessary, and when necessary, all segments of the population ought to shoulder the burden. Companies whose major business is supplying equipment or services to the armed forces should be prohibited from hiring former congressmen, high level administrators in previous governments, or high level active or retired officers from the armed services. If you are making missiles go make the damn missiles---these people mentioned don't know a damn thing about making a missile. And I no longer support blind patriotism. The real patriotic young heroes in the Vietnam War were those who refused to go. Might doesn't make right. When people say support the troops there are only two legitimate ways to do that: if the war is wrong then the troops should be brought home and that is the proper focus of support. If the war is legitimate then give support with endorsement of their efforts. If a war is a senseless killing field then it is wrong to cheer the troops on. It reduces the contest to something akin to the gladiators in the Roman Coliseum. There is a difference between sympathy and cheering on some kind of mindless slaughter. This is like the Germans who rationalized their support of World War II by saying they didn't support Hitler and his madness, they just supported the German troops. Anyone who cheers on the troops during a senseless war shares guilt for the senseless deaths. I have been guilty of that and am shamed by it. I wish every one of the 35,000 young men killed in Vietnam had fled to Canada and ignored those like myself who cheered them on, safely hidden behind a student deferment. Now we can cheer and hide behind the safety of not having to volunteer to go. And when a war is wrong we ought to be fair and have equal disgust for the death of our own soldiers, the death of the opposing enemy, the death of innocent civilians, the millions of refugees who lost homes, and the massive infrastructure damage. A war that never should have been waged can have no meaningful victory except to stop waging it. The damage done may be short-lived or long lived and you cannot undo the damage by creating further damage. If there is going to be further damage, then let the blood of that damage be on the hands of others. In this case we have enough blood on our hands. Enough is enough. Of course, if we surge enough we could achieve the victory of eerie silence across desolate ruins and a population reduced to the stone-age. Some victory.
