I am seriously shaken by this post of Bob Koehler, by its contents, by its graphic descriptions of the horrors of war (Ohh!, the Horror!), by the dehumanization of the soldiers, how they become nothing except animals in executing the desires and orders of the Presidents and Prime Ministers of “civilised” countries (some of them calling themselves “Christian”), by the absolutely unforgiveable treatment handed out by the authorities on the soldiers’ return to their beloved country, the country they think they are fighting for, but in fact they are fighting for a completely different reason, the whole war “game” makes me feel sick!
I have known all about this from frequent articles on the internet, but each time I am confronted with the “horror”, I relive the experience and rebel against the authority that should not be tolerated.
The documentary he refers to, “On the Bridge — an unstinting look at the reality of war and the terror of PTSD,…” is a story that needs to be told and needs to be seen and heard by everyone. We are all part of this inhumanity scenario, whether we like it or not.
Our leaders are the cause of this horrific end result of starting endless wars. Our leaders! We elect them, think that they can do no wrong, believe their lies, pay their salaries, show them undeserving respect, let them think for us, let them tell us what to do no matter how wrong, misguided, unethical, disgusting that may be!
Worst of all, we support them, apparently no matter what!
We do not Fxxxxxxwell “have to stay”! Nor Go, in the first place!
Related articles
- What War Does To Soldiers (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
- ‘O Lord of Death and Destruction’ (lewrockwell.com)
- Writing Poetry is Therapy for Veteran Suffering from PTSD (prweb.com)
- A Soldier Fights Not Because He Hates The One In front Of Him, But… (bostonpaul.wordpress.com)
- Unexpected Directions (talkingpointsmemo.com)
- Traumatized veterans find help elusive (windsorstar.com)
By Robert C. Koehler
Can we squeeze the glory out of the word “war”? Can we talk about savage irrationality and lifelong inner hell instead? Can we talk about the wreckage of two countries?
Can we talk about spiritual cancer?
In the extraordinary documentary On the Bridge — an unstinting look at the reality of war and the terror of PTSD, directed by Olivier Morel — each of the six Iraq vets who opens his or her heart in the course of the film has a moment of deep, almost unbearable silence at the end, staring into the camera and through the camera at the viewer . . . and at the nation they are committed to waking up. In that silence, those are the questions that begin to emerge.
On the Bridge bares the deep psychic wounds of America’s returning vets — “I liken (PTSD) to the comedic scene…
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The GOLDEN RULE 
War is Hell — and soldiers are demons.
N.B. I except from that any person who is truly fighting in defense, fighting to protect his home, his family, his neighbors against aggressors.
Even then Jason, although you would be angry and determined, maybe brutal, would you feel the need to cut them to pieces, urinate on them, dance on their bodies, just in defence?
If they had succeeded in hurting your child, heaven forgive the thought, you would be really mad and probably kick them even if down or even dead. But would you be more out of control than that?
These guys who attack civilians are not, at the particular time, under threat. They may have lost fellow soldiers to the enemy, but not their family. I suppose it’s close to the same thing as family, especially being overseas and away from their real families and reality.
Difficult to understand sitting here peacefully, what it’s really like. Regardless, this behaviour cannot be condoned. The soldiers should not even be in the situation as invaders, not truly in defence.
Hey Ken,
“Even then Jason, although you would be angry and determined, maybe brutal, would you feel the need to cut them to pieces, urinate on them, dance on their bodies, just in defence?”
During the Walter-Mitty imaginings which we all have, I like to think that no, I would not pee on them, dance on them, etc. I would dispense whatever brutality was needed with a cold efficiency and deal death in a quick and final manner. In the real world, would I? Not enough data. A very bright sage once said that the average man will kill another person for a can of tomatoes. I think that is correct, but am I average? Are you? You and I, we who have spent a life time practicing mindfulness, introspection, reflection and self control, do we really understand that white hot imperative of someone who lives life 95% as an emotional event? Whay would it take to push us to that 95% level?
“If they had succeeded in hurting your child, heaven forgive the thought, you would be really mad and probably kick them even if down or even dead. But would you be more out of control than that?”
There are nine people who fill out my “beserker list”, the list of people who you may NOT harm without initiating all out response on my part. I have no way of knowing before hand how abusive that response would be. Luckily, I do not have good data on it. I pray it remains so.
“These guys who attack civilians are not, at the particular time, under threat. They may have lost fellow soldiers to the enemy, but not their family. I suppose it’s close to the same thing as family, especially being overseas and away from their real families and reality.”
And now we come to the crux of the matter, and to the one fact that changes everything. When the US soldiers in Afghanistan go beserk, ask yourself, “Who started it?” The answer to that question makes all the difference. The US soldiers there started it. They were safely in the US until they volunteered to join up, to give over all ethical decisions to people they did not know, to go halfway around the world and to murder when told to. The people of Afghanistan have been murdered like dogs, men, women and children by US soldiers who have no right to be there, who violated their oath to the Constitution when they went, and who deserve what they get. I can only hope that the people of the US, if we are ever invaded the same way Afghanistan was, have the testicles to resist even half as strongly as the people of Afghanistan have.
Here is the sad fact. The soldiers of today’s US forces are NOT protecting the US from aggressors, are not protecting the Constitution, are not honorable warriors and are not a net force for good in the world. They are mercenaries. Period. They are people who murder for a living and who just happen to have a good enough public relations effort that most Americans have not yet figured out the scam. If I had my way, they would all be home with their families, doing something productive with their lives and enjoying the proper fruits of honest work. Instead they decided to take a job as hit men. Now they are stressed, now they are wounded, now they are poisoned, now they are killed by IEDs and have their trucks blown up. Sorry. That’s part of the job when you hire out as a murderer. Here is the fact. They started it, and now they are finding out what some of the cost is. Sorry. I owe them nothing. Shame on them.
If they had stayed home and obeyed their oath I would have HUGE respect for them. Instead they chose to murder for a living. Shame on them!
“Difficult to understand sitting here peacefully, what it’s really like. Regardless, this behaviour cannot be condoned. The soldiers should not even be in the situation as invaders, not truly in defence.”
It is their own selfish fault. They started it. Now they find that the job of murder includes more than getting to shop at the BX and wearing a nifty set of awards on their chest. I am saving my sorrow for innocent women and for little children with disfiguring burns, with missing limbs. The murderers can go to hell.
Jason, I understand how you feel and what you are saying is largely true and appropriate.
There is a problem though in the total approach of generalising and lumping all soldiers into the same “basket”.
As we have seen from this post here, many soldiers return to their home country repentant and often destroyed in souls and minds. These guys did not realize when they signed up what they were letting themselves in for.
Once they are over there, they are stuck.
They wouldn’t have seen themselves as murderers until it was too late. I think they deserve our sympathy and support.
On the other hand, the ones who willingly go along with the murdering, knowing full well what they are doing – as you say, they are owed nothing and we are right to be ashamed.
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Hey Ken,
“As we have seen from this post here, many soldiers return to their home country repentant and often destroyed in souls and minds. These guys did not realize when they signed up what they were letting themselves in for. Once they are over there, they are stuck.”
Repentant.
That makes a big difference. Are they truly repentant? Have they made any attempt to compensate victims (and I will not even try to decide what “compensate” means in any given case)? Most importantly, are they now trying to stop the continuation of what they were doing? Those are all huge factors, and in my opinion, the only factors that can mitigate (not expunge) what they have done.
We know and agree, I think, that Doctors, Priests, Engineers and Lawyers are held to a higher standard when they operate within their realm of expertise. A Doctor should KNOW that giving rat poison to a sick patient will increase bleeding. An Engineer should KNOW that designing a bridge with load capacity equal to failure strength is not safe. What are the standards for ordinary people? I know something of crowd mentality, and I am actually willing to give some leeway to people who signed up on September 12th and who, a month later, believed that war in Afghanistan was defensive. Not everyone saw the article in the Indian press during the previous summer where Indian officials explained how they had been warned by US officials of a war with Afghanistan coming in the fall. I read it, but few people noticed it. Not everyone saw the news reports that the Taliban had denounced the attack of 9/11 and offered to turn Bin Laden over for trial — an offer that was summarily rejected by the US. I remember it, but not everyone noticed. The propaganda was very well done on the MSM, and I can see how an honest person could have been deceived at the time. But that was a decade ago — and I have a difficult time seeing how anyone who is not willfully blind can still think that what is happening in Afghanistan (or Iraq. Or maybe soon in Iran.) is a defensive war. What are the standards for ordinary people? Is there a level of lazy ignorance (and note that I do not say “stupidity”, but rather “ignorance”) where even acts done with good intentions fail to be ethical?
Just how far can we go with the excuse of “I did not know. I meant well.”? That question is not rhetorical; it is sincere.
I presume, Jason, that it is not to me that you are putting this sincere question. If so the you are not reading my posts.
So I gather that the question is directed at the readers, yet they haven’t voiced any disagreement with this blog’s published criticisms of the warmongering, the pretense of saving a country from itself, the claim here that the “warring” is all about taking control and that the media is spreading, if not manufacturing lies.
So I infer that you agree with the blog’s principles, but want to argue your own case.
If you are directing your comments and question at the general public who do not see the light or the truth, via this blog, you are welcome. But the intention seems a little obscure to me. I fully understand what you are saying about the public’s failure to comprehend this reality that we do agree upon. I have mentioned it many times, I have only questions myself, but not answers.
It seems that we really only differ a bit regarding the individual military person, his responsibility for his actions and the degree of support that he deserves. This responsibility aspect encompasses all levels of the war machine. From the President down, no, from his string-pullers down to the private soldier. This issue could deserve a separate post, it is so vast. But it is also very much a personal judgement issue and I don’t think I have the necessary expertise, nor can I imagine a lot of satisfaction being achieved.
Perhaps you would like to draft a post and submit it, or even start your own blog. WordPress makes it a breeze, once you have something to say.
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