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June 07 The Murders in IraqIn my earlier blogs I have stated that the war in Iraq has become a war America can't win. I still believe that. I also stated that killing of civilians happens in wars, it's just one of the drawbacks of war. Now, with the discovery of, and investigations into, murder of civilians, I feel that I need to further address this issue.
Most Americans feel that the actual war in Iraq is over, that American soldiers are now doing "policing" duties. This is true to a degree. American soldiers are still at war with insurgents. The insurgents in Iraq are operating the same as VC in Vietnam. They are embedded within the civilian population and they terrorize the civilian population into helping them carry out attacks, or at least letting the insurgents embed themselves among the civilians in order to carry off attacks.
Now, here we have American soldiers, kids out of high school (17 1/2-19 years old), supervised by officers who are not much older, maybe 23-25 years old. These kids join the military (Army & Marines) and are taught to kill, kill the enemy. They go through basic training with a drill instructor inches from their faces, screaming orders to straighten up and conform to the code of infantry to kill their enemy or they will be killed and if they are the one who ends up dead, that will prove they are weak. Then after basic training they are shipped off to a war zone and the reality of WAR smacks them in the face.
America has not known war on its own homeland like Europe, Africa, Asia, etc., in modern times. How many living Americans know WAR like the American Revolution, the Civil War, or even Pearl Harbor? Americans watch war on TV, in movies, or in books that they read, but very few have known real WAR.
Let me tell you the horror of real WAR. War where you are terrified to move, to breath, to twitch an eye least you give away your position and the enemy shoots you with a gun with a caliber big enough to blow a six inch hole in your body. WAR where bombs, any kind of bomb, will throw shapnel (pieces of metal) hurdling through the air with the power to rip your body to shreds at vast distances or to evaporate you up close. When you're involved in a real WAR, you're scared, you're terrified. Heroes are soldiers who just happen to react well while scared as hell--said by Audie Murphy Medal of Honor winner.
Now, think back to when you just got out of high school, back to when you were 17 1/2-19 years old. How good a soldier do you think you would have made? How do you think you'd react in real WAR? Let me tell you about my experience when I was 17.
I had all but moved out of my parents home, we didn't get alone. I was spending most of my time, when not in school, with an older girlfriend who had her own apartment. One Saturday my girlfriend, her fiance, myself, and a guy I was dating were setting in the apartment watching a western movie on TV. Sometime during the movie, my girlfriend and her fiance went out into the kitchen and got into an arguement. The arguement turned into a fight. My girlfriend picked up a 22 caliber revolver and loaded it. When her fiance walked back into the TV room and sat down to watch the movie, my girlfriend walked into the room and shot her fiance through the head.
This was my first experience with a gun, let alone with an actual shooting. Let me tell you a 22 caliber gun discharging only sounds like a cap gun, but it terrified me. And, watching my friend in the throws of death is something I'll never forget. Years have passed and much has happened in my life, but I'll never forget.
Kids, 17-19 year old kids, have become the hope that this country builds its defense upon. Scared, terrified kids. In the two cases of murder of civilians in Iraq that I have studied, a member of a unit was killed by a car bomb and by insurgents. Other members of the unit, bent on revenge and terrified that they could be next, sought out and killed innocent civilians. Do I think this was right? Do I condone what they did?
If the investigations prove soldiers intentionally sought out and murdered innocent civilians to get revenge for the actions of insurgents, NO, I do not condone it, but I do understand how it could happen. Do I condone soldiers being tried and put in prison for their actions?
Putting a kid in prison for life or even giving them the death penalty under circumstances of WAR, to me is self-defeating. This country will not have an all volunteer military for long if soldiers are tried and imprisoned for results of a WAR their country sent them to fight. If our country trains kids to fight, kill and die, then we send them to fight, kill and die, and then we ruin the rest of their lives because they fought and killed the wrong people, our country will find itself unprotected and at the mercy of our enemies. June 01 Dropping Like FliesSince the New Mexico summer has set in, around the end of April, they've been dropping like flies. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the number of deaths the illegals are suffering trying to get across the border.
We are experiencing hot temperatures here in New Mexico. We are in the middle of a drought, no rain in sight, and the temperatures are climbing. Not to mention there are no shade trees in the desert.
Since the end of April there have been 25 deaths reported attributed to illegals walking miles in the desert sun trying to get across the border into the USA. Most of the deaths have been young women suffering heat exhaustion. Since we arrived in New Mexico last November the death rate to illegals is unbelievable, during the cool months, illegals died in van crashes on the interstate and now that it's hot they are dying from heat exhaustion. It's really sad.
I hope that Congress passes a bill soon to put an end to it. |
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