EXCUSE ME, THIS ISN'T THE WAR I ASKED FOR
Apr. 7th, 2010 01:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM: Wikileaks releases a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad – including two Reuters news staff.
Which you may or may not know about, seeing as how Wikileaks had the unfortunate timing to release the video the same day a far more important news story was breaking.
Luckily, we have blogs for the unimportant stories.
Anyway, a lot has been (and will continue to be) written about the video, particularly in regard to the cavalier banter of the soldiers, whether they were justified under the rules of engagement, etc. Personally, as a peacetime combat veteran, I think such musings miss the real point of the video, which is this:
War involves deliberately killing people as violently as possible without pity or regret.
It sounds obvious, I know. But I don’t think it’s obvious enough – particularly to the 65% of the country that originally supported invading Iraq (and the 89% who supported invading Afghanistan). I’m sure they all understood on some vague abstract statistical level that some people might get killed (all of them either terrorists who deserved it or enemy soldiers who didn’t have the sense to surrender), but a lot of them probably didn’t really understand just what that entails.
Well, now you know.
And the way I see it, if you supported the war, you supported the contents of this video, as well as as every other horror story to come out of both fronts (like, say, killing civilian women then trying to cover it up).
Like it or not, these things happen in war zones. It doesn’t mean they’re justifiable. But guess what – they happen anyway. War enables them to happen. It always has. When you say “Oh HELL yeah!” to war, this is what yr saying “yes” to.
Enjoy!
Of course, I could be assuming too much. Maybe all the people who supported the war were looking forward to all the death and destruction. Maybe they’re disappointed videos like this didn’t come out sooner. Maybe they’re annoyed by the poor video quality and are even now lobbying Congress to give the Pentagon proper funding for HD color cameras with high-power optical zoom so they can see the good stuff.
Well, that’s probably true for some of them. For the ones who only supported it because they thought stuff like this didn’t happen, or that it would only take three weeks, or they really believed all that guff about WMDs, they’re probably grateful to have something to distract them from their collective embarrasment. Like Tiger Woods’ riveting tale of woe and redemption, the outcome of which is vital to America’s interests.
Whatever. Either way, if you supported the war, rest assured yr getting the war you deserve.
Shoot ‘em down,
This is dF
Which you may or may not know about, seeing as how Wikileaks had the unfortunate timing to release the video the same day a far more important news story was breaking.
Luckily, we have blogs for the unimportant stories.
Anyway, a lot has been (and will continue to be) written about the video, particularly in regard to the cavalier banter of the soldiers, whether they were justified under the rules of engagement, etc. Personally, as a peacetime combat veteran, I think such musings miss the real point of the video, which is this:
War involves deliberately killing people as violently as possible without pity or regret.
It sounds obvious, I know. But I don’t think it’s obvious enough – particularly to the 65% of the country that originally supported invading Iraq (and the 89% who supported invading Afghanistan). I’m sure they all understood on some vague abstract statistical level that some people might get killed (all of them either terrorists who deserved it or enemy soldiers who didn’t have the sense to surrender), but a lot of them probably didn’t really understand just what that entails.
Well, now you know.
And the way I see it, if you supported the war, you supported the contents of this video, as well as as every other horror story to come out of both fronts (like, say, killing civilian women then trying to cover it up).
Like it or not, these things happen in war zones. It doesn’t mean they’re justifiable. But guess what – they happen anyway. War enables them to happen. It always has. When you say “Oh HELL yeah!” to war, this is what yr saying “yes” to.
Enjoy!
Of course, I could be assuming too much. Maybe all the people who supported the war were looking forward to all the death and destruction. Maybe they’re disappointed videos like this didn’t come out sooner. Maybe they’re annoyed by the poor video quality and are even now lobbying Congress to give the Pentagon proper funding for HD color cameras with high-power optical zoom so they can see the good stuff.
Well, that’s probably true for some of them. For the ones who only supported it because they thought stuff like this didn’t happen, or that it would only take three weeks, or they really believed all that guff about WMDs, they’re probably grateful to have something to distract them from their collective embarrasment. Like Tiger Woods’ riveting tale of woe and redemption, the outcome of which is vital to America’s interests.
Whatever. Either way, if you supported the war, rest assured yr getting the war you deserve.
Shoot ‘em down,
This is dF
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no subject
on 2010-04-07 06:30 am (UTC)..on second thought, wtf happened to 'if it bleeds, it leads'?
no subject
on 2010-04-07 05:22 pm (UTC)I agree with you completely.
no subject
on 2010-04-08 01:12 am (UTC)