13 Comments so far

1. Ronald White March 13th, 2007 5:08 pm

   Even as politicians call for national probes into the lapses at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the medical treatment of returning soldiers, little mention is made of their mental health needs. If these veterans and private contractors don’t get treatment for their invisible wounds, all of society will suffer with them.

   This kind of essay is seldom written by journalists, even less seldom read by ” American-idol ” Americans . Gutsy demonstrations proclaiming the evil of the atrocities is conspicuous by its absence . The vast majority of Canadians and Americans don’t know or wouldn’t care if they did know.

   … all American will suffer with them and so they should . ” they rounded up the homosexuals…I said nothing…there was no one left…

   Ron White
   War Registers Support Campaign
   Vancouver , BC , Canada

2. dakotalin March 13th, 2007 6:40 pm

   Thank you, Ms. Zia, for this beautifully written column. I, for one, have wept for Abeer, and often, and I believe that a great many other Americans have also. The problem is that those in charge of our policies seem to have long ago lost any capacity for empathy — even for our own people, much less for human beings who have been turned into “things”–”enemies”–even as we claim to be helping them.

3. ezeflyer March 13th, 2007 10:51 pm

   Much as we would hate to see the draft reinstituted, it may be one way to dilute the influence of mercenaries in our volunteer army. Too many of our troops are dysfunctional, abused teens who join the service to vent their anger. Many come from ghettos where violence is rampant and jobs are scarce. Others have the “kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out” mindset even before they are conditioned to hate the “ragheads”. And still others like guns and the power to dominate that they give.

   Given the historical notoriety of mercenary armies and the fact that our all volunteer Army is becoming one of cheap mercenaries for industry with a vested economic interest in wars and weaponry, it is not surprising that these young people are committing such atrocities. This is so particularly when they are shielded from any responsibility for their actions and reflects badly on the honorable and responsible soldiers left. But if we want to keep our army from becoming a criminal organization, we might endorse a draft, starting with Barbara and Jenna.

4. saphne March 14th, 2007 8:24 am

   Do you think the Iraqis are receiving proper psychological treatment also? Everyone is focused on the Walter Reed debacle, as well they should be, but if we can’t even take care of our own over here how do you think the much larger number of wounded, disabled and mentally traumatized are being handled over there? I am so ashamed to be an American.

5. saphne March 14th, 2007 8:25 am

   …and they were for the most part innocent bystantders, women and children.

6. dakotalin March 14th, 2007 11:28 am

   Thank you for that reminder, Saphe. All of the comments on this post are thoughtful and powerful, but the Iraqi civilians are almost often a footnote in such discussions, if that. When you consider that this war was nothing but an act of aggression (disguised as “pre-emption”, then later proven to have nothing to pre-empt), everyone in that country was an “innocent” except the legitimate members of terrorist organizations, who were few until we got there.

7. voxclamantis March 14th, 2007 1:16 pm

   I agree with ezeflyer, but I don’t think the draft will cure our love of war. I’m trying to imagine an army, peopled by testosterone-addled youngsters, bristling with high tech weaponery designed specifically to blow human flesh into pieces on command, that is not automatically a criminal organization. Does the introduction of draftees add some subtle distinction that renders the organization less criminal and more benevolent? For us in the 1960s the moral question for young people was whether to refuse the draft (and leave the country or go to prison) or allow themselves to be used as killing devices. Thousands chose refusal. Todays soldiers, every one of them, chose their careers freely. It is a shame if they were undereducated or misinformed, if they were abused as children, or if their adolescent brains have been damaged by homicidal video games. They all agreed to be sent off to murder people they have never met for reasons they should have questioned, and I find it difficult to have more sympathy for them than for their victims.

8. misanthrope March 14th, 2007 2:19 pm

   It is a tribute to CommonDreams.Org that all of the comments so far exhibit the kind of humanity that we would expect, but not often find in other forums, where there would already be several angry replies from those who blindly “support the troops” regardless of what atrocities they inflict upon the Iraqi people. I would like to add my voice to those who have already contributed. We should all be weeping for Abeer and all the thousands and thousands whose lives have been destroyed as a result our people’s pathological need to feel “safe”.

9. amiable March 14th, 2007 3:24 pm

   I do hate to be fixated on a “detail” – but for intentional rape and multiple murder the convicted defendant received a sentence that makes it possible for him to be free in TEN YEARS?? If such a crime were to be committed against an American – by anyone – and such a sentence levied, the media would be howling for blood. Does it not strike the sentencing judge that (appropriately or not), the Iraqis and the world would be watching this trial to see how deep American commitment to “liberating” Iraqis and “improving their lives” actually goes? Apparently, not very deep at all. I do take the writer’s larger point, about this administration’s penchant for scapegoating and refusal to hold those with real authority responsible – but in this case, apparently even the scapegoat gets the judicial equivalent of a slap on the wrist….

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