Wikileaks' "Collateral Murder"

OK, I know this is heavy. And I want to say right from the front that I do not know that this is murder except insofar as I see all war as such. A near as I can tell, the soldiers are by and large being good soldiers: as this analyst notes, begging a guy to give you an excuse to shoot him means that you are exercising control and following the rules of engagement; while what they have to say disturbs me deeply, I agree that their language is relatively low key, and their attitude a reflection of necessary dissociation. I think that the second shooting goes beyond the rules of military engagement as I understand them (I'm going off the overview here), but hope I'm seeing these soldiers making a terrible unintentional error, not knowingly committing war crimes by firing on recognized civilians. I feel awful for them...what a thing to live with. And I feel terrible for them even before that, for the things they have chosen to do, and the ways it hurts and changes them.

My real concern is that this pretty much does reflect war: as the above link notes, "90% of what occurs in that video has been commonplace in Iraq for the last 7 years, and the 10% that differs is entirely based on the fact that two of the gentlemen killed were journalists."

With respect to our military (in which people I know, love, and admire currently serve) and all here - I know spacejace has served, and he knows my pacifist stance - should we not take a hard look at the rules of engagement? At least 100,000 and possibly over a million civilians have been killed since we arrived in Iraq, and it's a tragedy and a trauma encompassing everyone involved. The way we fight guarantees that innocent people will be killed, and when you look back over the history of wars, civilian casualties outnumber military deaths. Is there any way to at least keep the warring limited to professional combatants? I admit, I'm not sure that there is. And if there is not...well, that's where we start getting into the value of war as a method of misery reduction.

Edited to add this link. This scenario would get us to a million casualties, I think.

Also ETA this: "By now we’ve heard plenty of people’s opinions on the now famous WikiLeaks video showing the U.S. military killing 12 Iraqi civilians — from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Stephen Colbert to Josh Stieber, a former soldier turned conscientious objector who would have been on the mission over Baghdad that day. But missing from the discussion have been the voices of Iraqis themselves, those who witnessed the slaughter, and especially those whose loved ones were killed."

perhaps the best ad (and reason) yet for indy-energy and fighting climate change

Listen to These Vets
by John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
posted March 4th, 2010 (on HuffPo)
The Senate needs to listen to these veterans: Enough words have been spoken in Washington, with none as powerful as what these vets have to say. Let's keep it simple and straight. Politicians have talked for years about the link between foreign oil and global terrorism.

And these veterans are doing their duty once again when they remind politicians in Washington that it's not "tough" to vote for legislation that creates jobs, cuts pollution, and strengthens our national security -- what's tough is what happens when we don't and our troops shoulder that awful burden instead.

And it's true. Don't believe me? The Pentagon recently released their quadrennial defense review, and they included the instability from climate change as a factor that could cost the lives of the men and women who serve in our armed forces.

The Center for Naval Analysis brought together a blue-ribbon panel of generals and admirals who concluded that "climate change is a serious national security threat." And General Anthony Zinni said flatly that if we don't deal with climate change now, "we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives."

And these veterans know it already does.

The politicians don't have it tough. The troops do. End of story. Now the Senate needs to do its job -- for them.

Veterans Day thought (plain, simple, distilled)

So this is a response to a buddy of mine who wished me, "Happy Veterans Day!" today, on our fantasy football message board ('happy veterans day!' in case anyone's wondering, is a great salutation; I don't know if there's an 'official' or common one, but I've always appreciated that one). Keep in mind it's a blog for crying out loud, not the New York Times. Disregard typos, vocabulary, and broken sentences. This goes for everything I ever write on here.


Thanks buddies!

As troops, servicemen, anyone who currently is serving or has ever served can tell you, we are more than happy (bored, patriotic, just plain nuts) to committ ourselves to possibly die for our country, or any other insane sacrifice that might happen, as long as it's for a goddamned good reason.

The LEAST ANY leader can and should do - when LEADING a million or so young americans who are preapred to give their lives like that - is make sure it's a war or mission worth dying for. Leaders OWE us that. It's part of the fucking deal. We TRUST them to be able to determine what a good reason is, to state it simply.

This is the point Bush never got and still doesn't get, with regards to Iraq, and why I've always spoken out so much against the Iraq war, his decision, and anyone who has ever supported the Iraq war (including John McShame). These bastards made one of the worst decisions in our country's history when they decided to invade Iraq and did our troops, our military and America no favors whatsoever. And the reason it was such a bad decision was because it wasn't "worth" american lives. It was simply unnecessary for any american heroes to die there. Same thing with vietnam. which was also a 100% wholly unnecessary war, and eerily similar in that lies from our leaders and made up events were pushed vehemently to sell this utter nonsense to the American people.

Invading Iraq (Hussein never terrorized one single American here and the lying about "WMD"s! - OH MY!" among other things) and committing troops there is exactly the kind of decision troops DON'T want, need, or signed up for. Obama saw Iraq for what it was, and It's why he voted against invading them. He knew damn well it was unnecessary. He out-thunk George W., John McShame (w/ all his experience!) and a whole lot of our other "leaders" on this most important decision of the decade. Let there be no doubt about it: Obama will be a great commander-in-chief, because he has common sense and sound judgement. Something me, and millions of other veterans and active-duty military members wish Bush and the likes of John McShame possessed.

Our military is DECIMATED now, due to an unnecessary war that simply never had to happen. Hussein was no more a threat to one single American than Madonna is. He was boxed in and incapable or launching a firecracker for christ's sake. There wasn't even a MOUSE from al Qadea in Iraq before we invaded, let alone a terrorist! The Iraq war never had to happen and should never have happened and every American service person who died there didn't have to die and should not have died.

The paramount point I hope I'm making (about youth, others being more than willing to sign up for the military and potentially pay the ultimate price so long as they feel they can trust their leaders wholeheartedly), has been compromised during this administration, and America, families, veterans and our military is suffering for it, and will continue to for a truly long time. Americans who would otherwise sign up for the services, have decided they can't trust their leaders anymore to be in charge of their lives when it really matters. So they're not signing up. Recruitment for the military has not only been abysmal for the last several years, but it's actually made us genuinely and definitively less safe as a country (more on this down the road). It's a living tragedy. Thanks to Bush, our military is broken. Without a draft, it will take at LEAST a DECADE to get it back where it needs to be.

Okay, perhaps I digress. But it's important people everywhere realize the sacrifices veterans and current active duty troops have made and are making, and what goes into their thought process; as well as the dangers of what terrible leadership can do to our national heroes, their families and our country.