War: Bits and Pieces

Pick some dates: November 2007 ~ to the present time, just for an example. Significant things have been said about our War but time does pass rapidly and new issues replace the old. And we forget. Well, some do remember, especially those families that have lost their sons and daughters to death and handicap.

Torture of prisoners comes up now and again ... not too long ago Andrew Sullivan observed in the Sunday Times of London that our "enhanced interrogation" techniques have a grotesque provenance: "Verscharfte Vernehmung, enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as the third degree. It left no marks. It included hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation." A US Marine told me that as we use this, it is certain that it will be or has been used against us. We can only trust your family will not be so dealt with.

We've been told that our contractors in Iraq (financed by unlimited taxpayer dollars) are actually on their own within their own organization ~ our military does not have oversight despite alleged illegal murders. ... Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq war combat veteran, said that should Baghdad implode, our contractors, not having to answer to the military chain of command, can simply drop their guns and go home. Vulnerable American troops could be deserted by those "who deliver their bullets and beans".

This is a familiar thing in recent years. Our government transfers tax money and oversight responsibility to corporations that in turn by their own nature will do what is best for the corporation ~ and incidentally the taxpayer may or may not be well served. In the meantime, we are told to praise the fact that our government reduces staff that historically have attempted to keep corporate waste & mismanagement to a minimum. A dangerous thing, I think, as we look to the terrific greed, misfeasance & malfeasance that is brought to light on a regular basis.

As the war has dragged on, it is hard to give Americans a free pass. We are too slow to notice, let alone protest, the calamities that have followed the original sin ~ the original sin in question is the invasion of another country and failure to pursue the real dangerous folks in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

This is America's longest War & perhaps we as citizens must examine our own responsibility for the hideous acts committed in our name.