Soldier worship blinds Britain to the grim reality of war | Joe Glenton | Comment is free | The Guardian:
"What radicalises soldiers then is not too far from what radicalises lone wolf killers, terror cells and drone strike orphans: the impact of policy on an individual and the people you care about. Marine A, now convicted, was a 39-year-old senior non-commissioned officer. He had done six tours of Afghanistan as an infantryman. He is likely to have experienced countless engagements and lost various friends in a failing war. This does not excuse his actions, but why should he and his fellow marines' callous attitude to death, shown in the transcripts of the helmet camera recording of the event, be a surprise?
When a political decision is taken that puts men who are primed for violence into a war, bad things will happen. This is another reason to make sure that war is the very last resort and not, as in the case of the post-9/11 wars, something that is engaged in lightly, in a spirit of hubris or in the pursuit of narrow interests."
Thank you, Tony.
ReplyDeleteThese were essentially the words I used immediately after 9/11 to my university students in describing the huge error we'd be committing by attacking countries then being blamed for the magical powers of cave dwellers who defeated the NSA/CIA/FBI/airport security and NORAD in a three-hour window.
I also tried to make the argument that one good thing that might arise after the attack would have been massive US international diplomacy and a campaign to change policies and perceived US atrocities against these countries.
I was not hired the next term as I was an adjunct prof at that time.
Wow, Suzan. The price of honesty. The ramifications of 9/11 have been universally bad it now seems. Not just for the poor villagers who bear the brunt of the bully boys' attentions but even for the US and her satraps. These countries have degenerated in ways which go far beyond just foreign policy. The UK, for example, is on the verge of breaking up politically and socially imho.
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