We ate and drank and danced with girls together, we trained together and we were closer than brothers....and when I saw him dead, I was filled with rage and all I wanted to do is kill them all...
RIght now there is a story being hinted at about some Marines who killed civilians in retaliation for one of their own being killed.LINK and for background, see LINK2
The story is still being investigated, but already the marines are prejudged as first degree murderers, and therefore the war is evil and we should leave Iraq...
Ah, but One of the problems with war is that it loosens the taboos against killing, and corrupts a small number to act out on their anger...It happens in ALL wars. By all sides...It happens because evil exists, and every person has the ability to do evil (Christians call this tendency "original sin"). This is why Pope Benedict preached about reconciliation at Auschwitz this week...
And my thoughts on war are posted on my screedblog so as not to bore you furthur...
But, as Dr. Sanity points out in her essay:
The cruelty and inhumanity of this or that particular person is manageable--during war and during peace. The perpetrators of Abu Ghraib have been held to account, as will all others who allow their dark side to prevail. But the real monsters who again threaten the world with their fantasies of a "pure race" or a "pure religion" or a "perfect" society are loose and once again we imperfect humans must confront the evil as best we can.
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