There seems to be a lot of outrage in the US right now, assuming that the press is describing it accurately, about the killing and mutilation of four "civilians" in Iraq. I put "civilians" in quotation marks because these people appear to have been ex-military who were wearing flak vests and were carrying weapons when they were killed and that doesn't really fit my ordinary definition of a civilian.
Be that as it may, they were killed and mutilated which is quite horrible. It reminds me a great deal of how Iraqi civilians died on an hourly basis during the "active phase" of the war, although they were most often killed and mutilated by American soldiers, sailors and Marines whom, I assume, rarely took pleasure in the destruction of such lives. When one loses one or more family members, friends and neighbors to an occupying force, I suspect that one has difficulty in maintaining a positive perception of ones' occupier.
I suppose the thing that I find most peculiar about all of this is that the US broadcast television networks do not show what a war looks like. Americans are constantly criticized for having no understanding of what war means. It's pretty obvious that when you are not seeing any pictures of what's actually happening, it's difficult to form a judgment of what it means. Does this mean that I think that the US media is aiding and abetting American stupidity? Well yes, since you asked, yes I do.
Americans are dying in Iraq. That doesn't bother me. That people are dying in Iraq bothers me, but Americans dying in Iraq leaves me cold. I'm sorry for their families, but I feel no compulsion to grieve any differently for them than for the thousands of Iraqis who have died there.
Finally, I wish to remind everyone of three words. C'est la guerre. This is what war looks like, people die ghastly deaths in war. There is mutilation, torture, rape, pillaging and lots and lots of senseless death. What did you expect?
Posted by Alan at 31.03.04 23:47