Comment on: Comments: Alleged Slayings In Fallujah Spur Military Inquiry - washingtonpost.com on 7/7/2007 7:51 AM

The defense attorney is right, one might as well investigate the whole war. In fact, one might as well investigate all wars. Apparently, as least sos I've heard to date, the investigated Marines were guarding recently captured combatants, i.e., men who who but a short time before were trying to kill the Marines who were guarding them, when they got a call to come to the assistance of other Marines engaged in heavy combat with other combatants. They could either (1) not come to the aid of their fellow Marines by staying with the captives and risking the deaths of more Marines or (2) do what they were trying to do before the capture, i.e., kill the hostile combatants so they could help out the other Marines under fire. Yes, the captives would have been unarmed and unable to defend themselves, just like the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the war, but what choices did the Marines face: protect the captives or protect fellow Marines. What choice do we expect them to make?
Among the many jarring scenes in Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima films, both of them, are scenes of Marines killing captives and of Japanese soldiers killing captives. It's easy enough to call such killings "murder" but to comdemn the killers, but guarding and caring for captives takes combat soldiers away the combat front and make them unavailable to aid in the accomplishment of the mission. From what I've heard so far about the Fallujah incident, it is a particularly poignant example of the moral difficulties inherent in the treatment of captives in the heat of battle. Let us feel bad about the shooting of unarmed hostile captives, but let's not let those offended moral sensibilities get int the way of helping the Marines who were under heavy and lethal fire from the other insurgents. And if you're of a mind to let your heart and soul really ache, think about the PTSD and other likely-to-be-permanent amotional and spiritual damage suffered by the Marines who had to kill the captives to get to the scene of the other firefight.

As for a command culture in the Marines that devalues Iraqi lives, let's get real. What in the world do we expect in this kind of war? Only Bush and Cheney and Rice can get away with spouting all that happy talk about 'our Iraqi partners' and 'the valient Iraqis" and what have you. Don't expect the Marines and soldiers to have generalized warm feelings about Iraqis when virtually all of those who kill and maim them happen to be Iraqis, whether Sunni insurgents, Sunni al Qaeda types, or Shiite militiamen. Was there a 'command culture' that devalued Japanese life during WWII? that devalued Vietnamese life during that war? By definition, war devalues life, both of the enemy and of our own fighters. This is the moral can of worms that is opened when one starts a war. Everyone who has fought in one or gotten close to those who have knows this, and this is why so many people who, like me, served as a Marine in Vietnam 40 years ago, saw Iraq as a repeat performance that would replicate and perhaps increase the terrible consequences that we experienced in Vietnam and other wars.

So the story of the Marines in Fallujah comes as no surprise. I have sympathy for the Iraqis who never should have been invaded and occupied by the US, and more for the Marines and their families who are and will continue to pay a terrible price for the arrogance and stupidity of Mr. Bush and his partners in crime.

Comment on: Car Bomb Kills at Least 22 in Iraq, 20 Found Beheaded - washingtonpost.com on 6/28/2007 8:40 AM

One reads these news items day after day and week after week and each one of them triggers the recollection that all this carnage, all this suffering, all this slaughter in Iraq was predicted by wise and knowledgeable experts on Iraq and the Middle East. Prominent among these was Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor for George H. W. Bush, but he was only one of many, many voices warning George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice and the rest of the neoconsertative chickenhawks in and around the White House and Pentagon that the invasion of Iraq would open Pandora's Box. The almost unbelievable human suffering that has followed the invasion and occupation is the direct result of George Bush's recklessness and wilfullness and, to a lesser extent, the gross incompetence of his Republican administration. The Democrats who voted for this reckless and immoral war, including Hillary Clinton, bear a full measure of responsibility for this suffering, but one can't escape the view that the Republicans, especially the neocons, have simply become the party of endless war. They see enemies everywhere, which is becoming an increasingly accurate perception and self-fulfilling prophecy in large measure because of Bush's foreign and defense policy and gross disregard for human rights. What a national disgrace. What a tragedy.

It's too late to stop the civil war in Iraq. That killing will continue until there is some 'winner' or until the nation is sufficiently dvided along ethnic and sectarian lines to reduce the slaughter rates. Our nation bears a terrible burden of responsibility for all of this but there is now little we can do to control, minimize or stop it. On the other hand, there is no need for more American (and other) soldiers and Marines to die in this senseless war. These men and women are now dying and suffering terrible wounds to their heads and limbs and souls only to buy time and save face for Bush and his wretched regime, just as tens of thousands of American (and other) troops and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fighters and civilians died long after it was clear to President Nixon, Henry Kissinger, the Congress, the American people and the rest of the world that that sorry war was lost.

Mr. Bush, please stop this senseless killing and wounding of our soldiers and Marines. Support our troops in fact, not just in words. Supporters of the Bush regime and this immoral war, remember the words of John Prine's song from the Vietnam era:
Your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more

Comment on: Comments: GOP Skepticism On Iraq Growing - washingtonpost.com on 6/27/2007 8:58 AM

In 1966-1967, I served the last year of my four years in the U.S. Marine Corps at a naval air station outside of Philadelphia. The previous year I had served in then early war in Vietnam. During that last year, I regularly was on call to notify families that their sons or husbands had been killed or wounded in Vietnam. Making those 'casualty assistance calls' was the worst duty I had in the Marines, but at least at that time, most Americans (though not I) thought that the American war in Vietnam would or at least could lead to some good result. By early 1968, of course, this optimism started to erode with the Tet offensive, and eventually disappeared. By the time Nixon and Kissinger got the Americans out under the totally deceptive banner of "Peace With Honor", many thousands of American and Vietnamese had been killed or maimed to provide political cover to the American regime. How thankful I am that I wasn't called upon to notify mothers and fathers and wives and children of the deaths or maiming of their Marines during those last years when it was so clear that the deaths and injuries would produce no good, when we could no longer pretend.

Here we are again with another president and his regime feeding us a line while men and women, American and Iraqi, are being slaughtered in a war that will produce no good. Bush doesn't withdraw or reposition American troops because he can't tolerate the realization that such a change of policy will demonstrate what a total failure his invasion and occupation of Iraq has been. We all know it and so does he, but he is willing to sacrifice more American and Iraqi lives to save face, his face. Senator Lugar knows this and the other senators, all of them, know this, as do the vast majority of congressmen, Americans, Iraqis and the rest of the world. I can't imagine the fear and suffering the families of servicemen are experiencing now with their loved ones at risk and a "Commander Guy" who is perfectly willing to let them die or suffer maiming rather than admit that he led the nation into a catastrophic war and a Congress and citizenry that are willing to let him get away with it. If this war were being fought by draftees rather than volunteers, the streets of America, like the streets of Iraq, would be running in blood and the CIA and FBI and other agencies controlled by the Bush regime would be engaging in the same kind of infiltrating and spying on peace activists just like they did during the Vietnam disaster.

So thanks, Senator Lugar, and thanks, Senator Voinovich and Senator Hagel and the others, but, you know, you're a little late.
Comment on: Olmert Makes 'Gesture of Goodwill' - washingtonpost.com on 6/26/2007 10:29 AM
Sally Quinn's theory to the contrary notwithstanding, it is hard to imagine Cheney agreeing to leave under fire. He doesn't give a hoot for the opinion of members of Congress, the media, or the American public. I suspect he doesn't give a hoot for the opinion of POTUS either except insofar as that opinion is necessary for Cheney to accomplish his purposes. A resignation this summer, under the clouds of his abysmal poll ratings and the Washington Post "Angler" series, would be leaving in disgrace, not as bad as the impeachment circumstances that drove Nixon from office prematurely, but not far behind. If his protégé and front man Bush told him to resign, Cheney would probably give Bush that eerie half-smile and give him the same advice that he gave Senator Leahy on the Senate floor: "Go **** yourself."

Comment on: A GOP Plan To Oust Cheney - washingtonpost.com on 6/26/2007 9:49 AM

It is hard to imagine Cheney agreeing to leave under fire. He doesn't give a hoot for the opinion of members of Congress, the media, or the American public. I suspect he doesn't give a hoot for the opinion of POTUS either except insofar as that opinion is necessary for Cheney to accomplish his purposes. A resignation this summer, under the clouds of his abyssmal poll ratings and the Washington Post "Angler" series, would be leaving in disgrace, not as bad as the impeachment circumstances that drove Nixon from office prematurely, but not far behind. If his protege and front man Bush told him to resign, Cheney would probably give Bush that eerie half-smile and give him the same advice that he gave Senator Leahy on the Senate floor: "Go **** yourself."

Comment on: Comments: Michael Dobbs - Passport to Frustration - washingtonpost.com on 6/23/2007 8:53 AM

Let's see . . . who was the National Security Advisor when all the 'preparations' for the occupation of Iraq were made, when General Shinseki, Colin Powell and many others were warning that the effort would require many more troops than Rumsfeld/Cheney/Bush were committing? Who was the Secretary of State when preparations should have been made for the predictable flood of passport applications due to changes in passport requirements for intrahemispheric travel? Do we see a pattern here? [Oh, btw, I am entering week 14 since I submitted my application for renewal and check to the State Department, whose web site still says the process will take 10 to 12 weeks. The check cleared promptly but I'm wondering if I'll ever get the new passport. If it was the Bush administration's overriding purpose to demonstrate that the federal government does not work, witness Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, border enforcement, passport issuance, etc., they have succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations.)

Comment on: CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry - washingtonpost.com on 6/22/2007 8:00 AM

General Hayden has clearly spent too many years in Washington, out of touch with the rest of us who have little or no faith in our government any more.

"Barred by secrecy restrictions from correcting "misinformation," he said, the CIA is at the mercy of the press. "Unfortunately, there seems to be an instinct among some in the media today to take a few pieces of information, which may or may not be accurate, and run with them to the darkest corner of the room," Hayden said.

The nasty media 'running to the darkest corner of the room'? We live with what must be the most secretive regime in the history of our country. 'Renditions' are kidnappings, as the current prosecution of CIA operatives in Italy demonstrates. "Enhanced interrogation techniques' are torture, as we all know even if we don't want to admit it. "Private contractors" conducting interrogations. Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. 'Geneva Convention' protections are 'quaint.' Late night visit to Ashcroft's hospital room by Gonzo and Card to extract approval from a sedated AG for an intelligence program that was SO illegal that the AG, the Deputy AG, and the Director of the FBI were prepared to resign if it was implemented and General Hayden bemoans a tendency 'to run to the darkest corner of the room.' The good general bears a certain unfortunate resemblance to Elmer Fudd and he must be living in a cartoon world if he can't understand that the millions of us skeptical Americans and foreign observers aren't just 'wascally wabbits' drunning to 'dark corners.'

Comment on: Comments: Little Relief on Ward 53 - washingtonpost.com on 6/18/2007 9:45 AM

I am a former Marine and Vietnam vet. My recently deceased Dad was a Marine and World War II vet, serving on Iwo Jima. We both sensed as Bush and Cheney beat the war drums for the Iraq invasion and occupation that the misadventure would end badly for the United States. We both were certain, on the other hand, that the war experience would end very badly for thousands of soldiers and Marines sent to fight the war. It always does. It always had. After all, that is precisely why Messrs. Bush and Cheney (and other elites now running the government) did everything they could to avoid military service in Vietnam. Death and physical injury are not the only risks for combatants. Almost all the fighters will return spiritually and emotionally wounded, many of them for life. How good it would be, and how improbably, if all those folks who put 'support our troops' stickers on their vehicles would devote their patriotic efforts to REALLY supporting the troops by exerting pressure on the miscreants in the federal government, from the Decider and Commander Guy on down, to provide real support for the now tens of thousands of soldiers and Marines who are REALLY wounded, injured, disabled by their service. It rings hollow to call them 'heroes' while not giving a hoot about the fact that they are so ignored by our government as they try to piece together their lives after combat service. Giving a fellow like Calloway $800 a month and a slap on the back provides a true measure of how much Bush, Cheney, Condi, and the others REALLY care about the men and women who fight their war. The Bloods and Crips who waste our money in Congress are no better. What a disgrace.
I am reminded of an essay on war that James Boswell wrote in 1777:
"Were there any good produced by war which could in any degree compensate its direful effects; were better men to spring up from the ruins of those who fall in battle, as more beautiful material forms sometimes arise from the ashes of others; or were those who escape from its destructions to have an increase in happiness; in short, were there any great beneficial effect to follow it, the notion of its irrationality would be only the notion of narrow comprehension. But we find that war is followed by no general good whatsoever. The power, the glory, or the wealth of a very few may be enlarged. But the people in general, upon both sides, after all the sufferings are passed, pursue their ordinary occupations, with no difference from their former state. The evils therefore of war, upon a general view of humanity are as the French say, à pure perte, a mere loss without any advantage, unless indeed furnishing subjects for history, poetry, and painting. And although it should be allowed that mankind have gained enjoyment in these respects, I suppose it will not be seriously said, that the misery is overbalanced."
In reading the Priest/Hull articles, we should all weep.

Comment on: The War Inside - washingtonpost.com on 6/17/2007 10:25 AM

How appropriate that this article by Dana Priest and Ann Hull appears on Father's Day. It reminds us of the thousands of fathers throughout the last century and now into this century who have been shattered by service in our country's wars and who received for their efforts no help. I am keenly aware of this fact because my father, who died this year at age 86, was one of those men. He was drafted into the Marines in 1944 at age 23, fought on Iwo Jima with the 4th Marine Division in February and March of 1945, and was returned in November of that year, an emotional wreck, to my then 23 year old mother, and her children, aged 4 and 1. Our family lived with the longlingering though diminishing effects of his emotional and spiritual injuries for almost his entire lifetime. He returned from WWII with no purple heart, but with devastating injuries that impaired him for decades, injuries for which his nation provided no help. Had he been killed on Iwo Jima, another Marine in dress blue uniform would have presented to his 23 year old widow and his son and daughter a neatly folded American flag as a token of gratitude from "a grateful nation." As it was, he was discharged with $100 mustering out pay, a slap on the back, and a 'good luck, Marine.'

His situation was hardly unique. In FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, James Bradley wrote:

For many of the veterans, their memories of combat receded; supplanted by happy peacetime experiences. But there were others from whom the memories did not die, but were somehow contained. And for a few, the memories were howling demons that ruled their nights. . . Langley, who as Corpsman Langley labored side by side with my father on Iwo – 3rd Platoon, Easy Company. He went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam with the Army. But there’s one battle that rules: “The dreams have lasted for years. At seventy-three I still get ‘em. I’ve been in three wars and I haven’t got past Iwo yet.”

My Dad's nightmares didn't stop until the last few years of his life, well into his 80s.

Let there be no mistake about the military's complicity in the national scandal about mistreatment and non-treatment of vets with PTSD. This illness, really a combat injury, didn't start with Vietnam or Iraq. It's been with us forever, but many in the military see it simply as a sign of cowardice or weakness. General George "Blood and Guts" Patton delivered a famous speech to his soldiers before the invasion of Normandy on D Day in which he said:

I want to say a word about those low characters known as ‘psychoneurotics.’ They are [expletives deleted to get comment posted] and lice.. In the last war they had ‘shell shock,’ and in the next war they will have some other kind of shock. But every one of them that quits means that more of a burden is thrown on you brave men who continue to fight. So if you have a man who thinks he is a psychoneurotic, make fun of him, kick his ***, and shake him out of it.

Patton’s attitude was common throughout the military and still is. Weakness, sensitivity, vulnerability are disgraceful and dishonorable, unbefitting ‘real men,’ especially of course do-or-die Marines.

Farley Mowat wrote a book entitled AND NO BIRDS SANG. The book describes the author’s service in the Canadian Army in the Italian campaign of World War II. In it, he quoted a letter he received during the war from his father, himself a World War I veteran:

"Keep it in mind during the days ahead that war does inexplicable things to people and no man can guess how it is going to affect him until he has had a really stiff dose of it. The most unfortunate ones after any war are not those with missing limbs. They’re the ones who have had their spiritual feet knocked out from under them. The beer halls and gutters are still full of such poor [deleted] from my war and nobody understands or cares what happened to them. I remember two striking examples of two men from my old company in the 4th Battalion, both [deleted] fine fellows yet both committed suicide in the lines. They did not shoot themselves. They let the Germans do it because they had reached the end of the tether. They never knew what was the matter with them. They had become empty husks, were spiritually depleted, were burned out."

Despite my knowledge of my father's condition after World War II, I followed his footsteps and joined the Marines and ended up serving in Vietnam in 1965-66. Unlike my Dad, I came out of 'my war' OK though deeply and permanently cynical about my government. The United States government has treated its injured soldiers, sailor, airmen and Marines disgracefully for years. The current situation does not differ from that facing veterans of earlier wars. The government does only what it must, not what it should.

Let us hope that the efforts of Dana Priest and Anne Hull,may Go