We have two lovely neighbors in their early 30s, both archeologists. The brother of one of them was wounded in Iraq today, somewhere north of Baghdad. He is a lieutenant in the infantry, and was wounded between his shoulder and neck. Apparently he will recover. The call came in from Iraq today to his sister, who soon after sat on our sofa looking bewildered, just home from work.
Our young neighbors were shaken at this distressing news, a hair's breath from tragic. I uncorked a bottle of champagne. We shared a toast to her brother, the lieutenant who now wears a purple heart somewhere in an Army hospital in Iraq. She recounted her years growing up with him, and a few humorous anecdotes. She then drove off to be with her parents, who were waiting for her on the other side of town.
Sometimes I forget that we're in a real war. I know it, but rarely does it come to my home, as a grim expression on my neighbor's face. Too much blogging and reading can make this conflict abstract; it promotes an academic view of war, of life, and of this struggle. But the abstraction is a lie. It's a way to push reality back to a tolerable corner, to a space where it can be observed and analyzed, but hardly felt -- no, not really felt at all. Perhaps this is how we cope. It's how I cope.
I hope my neighbor's brother will be alright. I hope he is well equipped -- both in terms of hardware, morale and leadership. I still believe that this war is pivotal for the future of freedom and democracy, the West, the Arab world, and much more. It's a very confusing, tumultuous time. I keep hoping to find unanimity on the front pages. But instead, I find more abstraction.
I have so much to be grateful for. I have a beautiful fifteen month old daughter who runs around in the summer heat barefoot, in a yellow dress. I have my health, and don't devote much of my time considering sniper's bullets and IEDs.
Abstraction was my form of self defense, until a few degrees of separation connected me to this war, on a hot summer evening.
I have so much to be grateful for. I have a beautiful fifteen month old daughter who runs around in the summer heat barefoot, in a yellow dress. I have my health, and don't devote much of my time considering sniper's bullets and IEDs.
Having known so many soldiers and Marines, including veterans of the worst that Korea and Vietnam had to offer, I doubt if there are many combat men anywhere who would begrudge you your fifteen month old daughter and your freedom from snipers. Most of them would think that such freedom is exactly what they have fought for.
When I was 18 years old and learning War in a classroom (this knowledge thankfully went unimplemented) I was amazed at the patience and tolerance that such men showed towards punks like myself. When you're a kid who's mainly concerned with beer and female organisms, your life seems pretty meaningless compared to someone who wears a Combat Infantry Badge, or a 5th Special Forces flash, or who took a Chinese bayonet in the gut at Pusan and lived to tell about it. Why such a person would even condescend to speak to lesser life forms - as if any one of us might live up to their stature - was beyond me.
Today I put it down to a particular grace that a man achieves, when he soldiers on in uniform 20 years after the Viet Cong shot his guts out and gave him a permanent bleeding ulcer. People like that were the wisest and most caring adults I had ever met in my benighted life.
So when any speaks who fought on Crispin's Day, if we don't hold our manhood cheap we at least hold it in a certain perspective. Whatever we do or give, someone else has done more or given more. Everything we enjoy, someone else will never enjoy again. If we don't enjoy it, we treat their gift with disrespect and contempt.
Cicero & Glen,
Thank you for your comments. Together, they make a nice bookends. Quite moving actually.
The young men fighting in wars on all sides usually lack the necessary information and experience needed to know whether their causes are just. Hence their heroism or villany is largely a function of luck.
Anyone championing the courage and sacrifice of US soldiers should also acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of Red Army and Wehrmacht troops. People don't get to choose what continent they're born on.
On the flip side, anyone blaming enemy soldiers for the dastardly deeds of their government should keep the following thought in mind: the Japanese-American civilians who were kidnapped and sent to internment camps weren't being liquidated, but the average US grunt in the field had no way of knowing that.
"Sometimes I forget we're in a real war. I know it, but rarely does it come to my home as a grim expression on my neighbors face. Too much blogging and reading can make this war abstract; it promotes an academic view of war, of life, and of this struggle. But the abstraction is a lie."....
Why is it a lie? And where does national sacrifice start?
President Bush urged all Americans to observe Independence day by flying the flag, and sending letters to our troops. What hardships do these gestures impose on Americans not immediately involved in "true" sacrifice? The only Americans compelled to offer themselves up for sacrifice have been the soldiers and their families, while the majority of the American people have gone on with their lives undisturbed the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Instead of paying more taxes to underwrite the righting, we're paying less.
Instead of a draft, which would call for real sacrifice at a political cost, we have stressed the Reserves and the National Gaurd by extending tours of duty.
Instead of making sure our Vets health care costs are met, our nation has undercut the Veterans health care costs by $4 billion over the next 2 years. And, shamed by it, Congress is adding a needed $1.5 billion back in to it. But it's still not enough.
President Bush a week ago said, "it [the war in Iraq] is vital to the security of our country", and "the sacrifice of American lives in Iraq is worth it." If national sacrifice is called for, then why hasn't the President called for ALL Americans to share in it. The assignment he gave us, to fly the flag and send troops letters does little to deal with the real problems facing our military families.
To be clear, President Bush has not been honest with the American people. He has not explained the sacrifices required, or the risks we face in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Quoth Cicero: "It's a very confusing, tumultuous time..."
Yep. And many people are in denial about the degree and loci of the confusion.
Speaking about bookends a la "lurker" above (full disclosure here: I'm an agnostic and a sometimes-recovering libertarian (pace TJ)): I recently found it almost comically ironic that according to some "sophisticated" people, "Piss Christ" is an artwork that deserved federal funding, but the Koran must be handled with, nearly literally, kid gloves.
Confusing. Even with the clues available.
It's amazing what a difference it makes actually knowing people involved in a tragedy, conflict or atrocity. I found myself much more connected to the bombings in London than I would have thought possible just because I know so many people from the city.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments
Kathy, your recklessness in calling the President "dishonest" for not following your recommendations is inappropriate. One can argue about what the President ought to be doing or saying but this level of discourse by you is part and parcel of the strategy of poisoning the well which shows partisanship of a shameful sort.
Cicero, You should sign up for the military, man. Anyone who supports the campaign for Freedom in Iraq has the moral duty to sacrifce for the country and sign up.
Maldido, Wow! Another rendering of the lame "chicken hawk" argument. Way to stick to the DKos talking point dude! Now unless you'd like to review the applicable posts in the WoC archives, please go back to whence you came.
>>Instead of a draft, which would call for real sacrifice at a political cost, we have stressed the Reserves and the National Gaurd by extending tours of duty.
The draft is slavery. IMHO, people who support slavery are REAL LAME. I will resist those who attempt to enslave me or my younger friends, with lethal force if necessary, and you should too.
Dave,
It might even be actionable under
this law. The Selective Service System exists and registration is still madatory.
It's certainly sedition but sedition is not currently actionable.
Perhaps an enterprising US Attorney will look into this.
T.J.: I will resist those who attempt to enslave me or my younger friends, with lethal force if necessary ...
Before hastening to use lethal force, T.J., I think you should wait to see if you pass the psych eval.
The VA is always looking for volunteers, even just on weekends.
Kathy, your recklessness in calling the President "dishonest" for not following your recommendations is inappropriate.
Robin, this is nothing but tripe. The casus belli for Iraq was false. There's no getting around it. Kathy's not being "reckless" for pointing it out.
but this level of discourse by you is part and parcel of the strategy of poisoning the well which shows partisanship of a shameful sort.
And this is shameful. You're employing what's been called in another time and another place the Dolchstoß thesis. Pointing out the shortcomings of our President's leadership is not "poisoning the well." Unless you actually think that freedom of speech is a problem in wartime.
When a war is not going well, and quite obviously it is not going well because of lousy leadership, do you prefer to: a) blame the Nefarious Internal Enemies of Our Leader, or b) the Leader?
Your answer might say a lot about your respect for the duties of citizenship in a free Republic.
Cicero, You should sign up for the military, man. Anyone who supports the campaign for Freedom in Iraq has the moral duty to sacrifce for the country and sign up.
Another cheap rhetorical ploy aimed at squashing debate and support for the decision to go into Iraq. Utilizing this line of reasoning, anytime there is not conflict the military should be staffed by elements of the Kumbayah Guard. I mean, if you support peace you have the moral duty to put away your bong, cut back on the frapachino's and trade in your birkenstocks for combat boots. Someone's gotta keep the peace right?
>>Before hastening to use lethal force, T.J., I think you should wait to see if you pass the psych eval.
Here are the relevant lines from Alice's Restaurant:
"And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy.""
I might successfully fail the psych exam and be declared unworthy of being enslaved and sent off to kill people I don't know thousands of miles away. Sadly, a few of my friends might accidentally pass the psych exam and be screwed.
Look, there are certainly some people in this world who need killing. To get my help in dealing with Al Qaeda, Mugabe, the Mad Mullahs, the Chinese, etc. all someone has to do is present me with a sane, minimally efficient plan, and ask nicely. The US Government isn't sane or efficient, and doesn't ask nicely, so I feel less than zero obligation to help it.
>>Perhaps an enterprising US Attorney will look into this.
What is and isn't "lawful authority" depends largely on who's holding the gun. Some people resisted enlistment in Saddam's army. If that's sedition, then maybe sedition isn't such a bad thing, eh?
It's always interesting to watch people debase themselves by using the means and reasoning of our totalitarian enemies.
Ok, now this is really getting silly. I don't live in Canada. I'm discussing resisting the draft with force in a country that Katzman doesn't live in. If that country was Iran, Syria, Saddam-era Iraq, the Soviet Union, WWII Germany, etc., no one here would object, and for good reason. People would say, "T.J. is advocating violent resistance to tyrannical oppression." That's at least 30% of what this entire site is about.
If the draft was reimposed in the US, one of the last elements differentiating the US government from the above tyrannies would be gone.
I'm with Rumsfeld on this one.
I say we tar and feather T.J. for his resistance to a fictitious draft and for generally offending the sensibilities of Canadians, which he has certainly and undeniably done at one time or other.
As for Kathy and her call for "national sacrafice," I hereby move that all supporters of the Iraq War, now or ever, shall cut off their left pinkies, and the mechanisms of democracy will henceforth be suspended to allow the implementation of the policy preferences of Gore and Kerry regarding tax and spending issues. That includes the "lock box." Good day.
There ya go, PD, not to mention T.J.'s moral equivalence technique was getting to me.
T.J. is entitled to oppose a draft, though I wouldn't recommend resisting violently. In fact, I'd encourage him to bring all his libertarian friends up to Canada in the unlikely event that the USA ever institutes one. It would improve my country considerably, and since our military is near-defunct anyway, their unwillingness to serve wouldn't matter.
It's win-win!
Hmmm, increased Libertarian presence in Canada ... now that's funny.