"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events." ~ Sir Winston Churchill
Imagine yourself a soldier in Iraq. Every day your life is on the line as you go on patrol. You are continually aware that any man, woman, or even child that you see could possibly have a bomb strapped around them. Your senses are sharpened from months of this daily routine. Every change in the now familiar landscape could mean an IED has been placed nearby. You've seen some death and carnage. You live in a state of constant fear.
The memories of horror are indelibly etched in your mind. You can remember the time, months ago, that seems like yesterday, when you were trading "Yo Mama" jokes with your best friend and he walked away from you just a few yards and an IED went off beside him and reduced him to bits and pieces before your eyes. You can't get the image of his smiling face disentegrating right in front of you out of your mind.
I am sorry.
I was trying to paint a vivid picture of what life must be like for the ordinary foot soldier in one of the more dangerous regions in Iraq, but I cannot. I have never been in combat. I can only imagine and my imagination isn't good enough. No one can possibly know what these brave young men and women are going through.
Over the Memorial Day weekend I watched "Saving Private Ryan" again. The first few minutes of that movie are, as far as I know, probably the most realistic depiction of live combat ever filmed. It is the only frame of reference I can draw from to try to grasp the horror and confusion of war.
It is extremely inadequate.
What I am clumsily trying to say is we don't know the state of mind of the Marines who have been accused of cold blooded murder, but I am reasonably sure that Congressman Murtha made at least one good point. The Marines were very likely under great stress. In addition to that stress, there is testimony that they were under fire from persons unknown. It is natural to assume they reacted accordingly and, as a result, innocent people, among them women and children, died.
I am trying to sympathise because I can't empathise.
One of the sad truths of war is that there will be casualties. No matter how well and efficiently a war is fought, people die. Many times, they are innocent civilian people.
It is called collateral damage. It is, sadly, unavoidable.
While it is possible that the Marines did indeed murder these people in cold blood as Congressman Murtha alledges, it is also possible that these unfortunate victims fall under the category of collateral damage.
I am inclined to back the Marines in this case. If one takes into account the stress of the situation and evidence they were being fired on, it is no stretch to believe that the innocent victims in this case were not murdered intentionally, but were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bullets were flying and bombs were being detonated. Through all that confusion, it is quite understandable that some innocents were caught in the crossfire.
Bullets don't care what they strike.
Conservative talk radio hosts are quick to denounce Murtha for declaring the Marines guilty without benefit of a fair hearing and rightly so. But we cannot ignore the possiblity that he is correct in his assessment.
If the Marines are found guilty of the crimes they are accused of they should be punished. If they are absolved, Congressman Murtha owes them a heartfelt apology.
In the end, though, I believe the Marines should be given the benefit of the doubt.
Let's all reserve judgment until after the investigation is complete.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Mark, I think the best possible course of action, for those of us who do not know unequivocally what took place in Haditha, is to remain silent until the military investigation is completed. Once the investigation is completed, the military will share their findings. Until then, the very best we can hope for is mere speculation. Admittedly, the military is purposefully secretive while investigations are ongoing for a very specific reason; avoid undue pressure to arrive at a fore drawn conclusion. Political pressure is a severe motivator for the military; so is the desire to avoid appearing biased toward their own. These influences can adversely sway investigators. In this case, the military needs the populaces’ and the media’s patience so as to be thorough and fair in discovery all the facts.
All this talk about “combat stress”, “fear”, etc. is not helpful and does not mitigate or explain a thing. Ninety-nine percent of the time soldiers (all serve persons) in chaotic combat situations will respond exactly as they are trained; it is the only reasonable thing they know to do. Yes, there is unbelievable fear; yes the emotions are strained to a point of bursting; but the only disciplined response is to do as trained – that is what will save your and your buddy’s lives. If training discipline was broken in this situation, it will come to light during the investigation.
As for Rep Murtha, I have but one comment: should the investigation reveal no criminal activity, then Rep Murtha owes those Marines a formal letter of apology accompanied by a copy of his letter of resignation from the House of Representatives. Hell, even if they are charged, he owes them a formal apology for acting like a politician rather than a Marine!
Thanks for the soldiers perspective O.S. I cannot even imagine how horrible war is. I don't think I want to.
"It is called collateral damage. It is, sadly, unavoidable."
And this is the reason why many folk who believe in the notion of Just War Theory think that we can no longer (if we ever could have) prosecute a Just War. One of the tenets of JWT is that you must differentiate between combatants and civilians. Killing civilians is not allowed under JWT and, as Mark points out, they are a certainty in todays' wars and have been for at least a century now.
And so, not only do pacifists stand in opposition to war as it exists, so too must those who truly believe in the notion of Just War as defined by the church all these centuries. As Pope Benedict said:
There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a "just war."
I just worry that these leaks to the press is only to prepare the American public for what is to come. I heard (hows that for a source) on BBC radio testimony by one of the surviving victims. It was awful. When the full investigation report trickles in this could be really really bad.
Never the less, it seems the original post on this topic does not seem to disagree with Murtha very much. The Senator repeatedly calls the military stressed out. That may be at the heart of this whole thing.
What troubles me about Murtha's incessant blabbing on Haditha is that he is exploiting it.
The guy is shamelessly ripping on the Marines without adding qualifiers to his statements, such as:
The investigation is ongoing.
By far, most Marines are serving honorably.
Mark, Another great post. I have reserved my right to place judgement until the investigation is complete. I trust in the Marines to fully investigate and the truth will be known. Whether or not how others view our Marines, is obvious if it is true. However, those of us true patriots know that 3 bad apples does not mean all the apples on the tree are bad.
Wait a minute. You seem to forget that this incident occurred last November. The Marine Corps did investigate. That the individual Marines did this is horrible and sad. That the Marine Corps attempted to cover it up is outragious but not surprising.
Murtha didn't make this stuff up. Do you think he heard some rumor and blasted it all over the world? No. Somebody with a true sense of honor no doubt informed him of the incident, the investigation, and the cover up.
Once again Murtha has shown himself to be a true American patriot.
If guilty, these Marines should be punished.....If not, they should be cleared.
But either way, Murtha(F'er) shouldn't be stringing them up before they've been tried.
The Libs have been dying waitin for the next My Lai, and will have a group orgasm if this turns out to be it........Gotta love a group of Americans sitting around hoping for things to go bad. Sick SOB's.
No one hates war more than than than the soldiers that have to fight them. Murtha is a good man gone bad. We support the Marines 100%. Those who use this incident as a political tool for their own advantage are sick, and need help.
"Once again Murtha has shown himself to be a true American patriot.?"
And Benedict Arnold should be posthumously promoted to Lieutenant General!
I'm reading Martin Gilbert's biography of Churchill. In his early Army career Churchill witnessed many atrocities committed by Muslims in the tribal areas of Pakistan (once part of India).
This kind of thing in war is not new.
It is also not new that enemies will often massacre civilians and claim that the good guys did it. This has been seen in the last few years in both Palestine and Iraq.
And of course there was that "wedding party" near the Syrian border a few years ago that turned out to be a terrorist camp.
If we find that Marines are guilty of murder they will be tried and punished.
Too bad we don't also charge and try those in this country who would slander our soldiers when falsely accused and aid our enemies.
P.S. All that garbage about our military being overstretched or broken is nothing more than Murtha defeatism and anyone who utters it has lost any credibility as regards further discussion of the issue.
Rick, just how has Murtha "gone bad"?
Post a Comment