Ted Rall for February 04, 2013

Hindsight is 20/20.

If after giving commands to stop, the motorcycle kept approaching and was not stopped before blowing up the soldier and his platoon, would the soldier have “done the right thing”?

If we weren’t screwing around in Afghanistan in the first place, would your question be of any relevance?

However the Taliban/Al Qaida have been known to use children (especially those with mental disabilities) to do their dirty work. Of course, the Cleveland police were following protocol when they used 130 shots to stop a fleeing car they THOUGHT had fired shots. It rammed a police cruiser, so I guess it was justified. There was cocaine in the suspects systems, but no guns were found. But if you’ve done nothing wrong (not talking about the drugs in this case) you don’t have to worry.

saw a soldier cut from neck to crotch in ’Nam by a child when he was passing out candy to a bunch of kids

so Rall’s idea is that our soldiers to stand down when approched by someone even after being told repeatedly to stop? Why, so he can draw an other cartoon depecting a whole lot of dead american soldiers?!!

I understand what the comic implies, I also understand that often times in the heat of the moment we react for our own survival and follow the training we have been given. I also know that like Viet Nam, the Taliban have no regard for human life and will use women, children, older people, whoever they can to serve their deadly purpose. So then our troops, who have been raised in a humane society that respects life gets put in this jungle of death with “The Rules of Engagement” to guide our actions. It’s war. If you can justify war to begin with, do we all follow the rules? No. Did the Japanese in WW 2 and the Vietnamese in Nam? No. Does the Taliban give a damn about the Geneva convention rules? No. As a combatant in a war like any we have fought in the middle east, are you going to fight a war by “conventional method”? No. So we fight and try to maintain some shred of decency and humanity in the process. Will we make mistakes? Absolutely. Anyone that’s ever been in combat knows how quickly things change and how we often have to make life and death split second decisions. Then when we return home we live with the nightmares, PTSD, and sometimes suicidal ideation as we try to reconcile ourselves with the war.

In one sense the “Rules” to be applied to a war is an absurd concept. How is butchering people ever justified or realistically regulated by a set of rules? And to Rall’s point, they change with the society and their rationale for how to fight the war. My sympathy still goes to the soldier who trusts in his superiors to do “the right thing” and make some definition of action for the insanity of war for him to follow.

FWIW I am an older (66) Libertarian, have lived with too much violence in my life justified by self righteous politicians who so easily committed us to wars that should have never happened. It’s sad to say but our military policy will not be governed by a defensive posture as outlined in our Constitution, but more because we can’t afford (fiscally) to any longer “save the world for democracy.” Thanks for letting me share.

You’d think with all the guns we’ve sent to Afghanistan, that it would be a peaceful society. Guns are supposed to make people behave better… right, righties?

The argument about British vs. American troops might hold water, except for the fact that we have been characterized as THE GREAT SATAN since the overthrow of the Shah. But the Taliban/AlQaida DO NOT respect life, as they DO NOT respect the traditions of the people they suppress. (Yes, we’ve done the same.) Look at the response to the freed Malian people. Look at the desecration of tombs, destruction of statues, etc. A fundamentalist is a terrorist. And I mean that to apply to the fundamentalists in this country also. When one says “My way or the highway, love it or leave it”, one says “I don’t give a DAMN about you or your position!”