Friday, January 13, 2012

Politically Correct War

We've been at war in Afghanistan for better than ten years.  It has been brutal. The warfare unconventional.  Our military tested to the extreme by too many deployments without sufficient breaks.  Families torn apart because we've too few regular forces to get it done and have had to rely on reserves and national guard.  Equipment in many cases having to be jury-rigged by the soldiers.

We put in place that which is nor more than a puppet government yet it has been pulling our stings for years.  It negotiates with the enemy we are fighting.  It dictates where we can engage right down to the time of day and what equipment we can use.  They cannot account for millions of dollars.  Their police and military, which we have trained, kill our men.

They enslave their own people, deny them education, stone them to death, torture them if they refuse to become prostitutes.  They side with their neighbors against us to keep vital supplies from getting through to our troops. They scold us as if we were children.

When a small group of our Marines showed their contempt for them by urinating on their corpses,  once again we're the bad guys.  We didn't show them enough respect. In the name of whomever, they're the enemy!  Look at the numbers of our men and women they have slain or maimed for life!  Respect them? How can any sane person even ask that what's more expect it?  Don't look for it here!

What the Marines did show is exactly what we think of them.  They are not worth the death of one more soldier.  We cannot wage war and nation build at the same time. They are not compatible undertakings and should not, in any case, both be tried by the military.

The footprints won't even be filled with sand upon our departure before the Taliban is back in power and Karzai either in cushy exile somewhere or a safe haven provided by the Taliban for his help against us.  Bet on it. Living on monies he siphoned from us.

Now they're considering court martials against a handful of war weary Marines.  Nothing more should happen to them than being told that's not the way to behave, and for heavens sake don't post any thing like it to You Tube.  That's a no brainer unless you're just too exhausted to think straight.

What is it with these generals?  They become politicians  at some point rather than military men.  I wonder how politically correct they'd feel if they were in the field with their men, rather than sitting in their heavily protected headquarters.

I'm so sick of our namby-pamby ways, our bowing to the enemy, our allowing them to call the shots while we die for what is questionably called a country of questionably civilized people.

I don't particularly like the word 'pissed'.  But I can say I am 'pissed' off about the whole war and the way it has been managed by the civilians giving the orders.  Maybe the Marines chose the wrong target.





6 comments:

Margie's Musings said...

War is allways managed by civilians who know nothing about it.

War accomplishes nothing but to create a new enemy. It's simply revenge. Jesus would turn over in his grave. We're supposed to be a Christian nation and yet our first reaction to being attacked is to attack back.

If we had not established ourselves there on their holy land, none of this would have happened. Jesus was all about peace. He was one reactionary who did not take up arms against the Romans. He went about the countryside trying to teach the peasant people to settle their disputes with peace and love and to accept one another as neighbors...even the Samaritans.

When will we ever learn? We should be teaching peace...not war.

John Dwyer said...

I have to disagree with you on this post. After Abu Ghraib I would think we had better instructed our military on world-wide political consequences of our actions.

Mari Meehan said...

So what are you saying John? They deserve to be punished because of the failings of their superiors to teach them the niceties of war? This wasn't a humiliation of the living but rather a show of distain for the enemy who had the skirmish turned the other way probably have left the Marines' hacked to pieces as feed for the vultures.

Anonymous said...

Well written, Mari, no great surprise there though, seems to be a common occurrence here with any subject you address.

Find myself praying for these young men, and hope their existence once they've returned safely home is one of just compensation for answering the call of duty. Where I don't condone their behavior in this particular instance, will respectfully reserve judgement on them (because where I'm here free to share my thoughts with reason, they are engaged many miles away from their loved ones with conditions that, unfortunately, may cloud their best judgement and reason from time to time). Cannot remember who said it, but someone once said "War is he**".

Word Tosser said...

yes, war is hell... there I said it.. and where was it written that we had to be polite?... where are our Generals who stand up for our troops.. true this wasn't the best of ideas... but as oppose to what, ours hanging from a bridge with no heads... the other question I had.. who took the picture and let the public see it.. STUPID... if we knew... if we knew.. what went on during WWII or even I... it would have the public's hair on end. WAR IS HELL...
If we have to send our troops over seas, the least we can do is stand up for them.. and not let the general public second guess them. Until they walk in these men's shoes, let them not judge.

Margie's Musings said...

My younger son has been there four times..two times in each country. The last time he ran a police acodemy in Mozel. That deployment cost him his marriage.

My older son has been there twice. He's 56 and in the guard and has no business in a war zone. Thank God he's home now.