“War is always about betrayal”
A news article in today’s newspaper is headline as “U.S. records 2,000 death in Afghanistan. They are talking about U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan in the 11 year war. If you count the civilians deaths, civilian and military wounded, veterans who have committed suicide, the thousands of refugees and the Afghanistan soldiers on our side and those we call the ‘enemy the toll of death and destruction is hard to comprehend. Now as we prepare for our soldiers to leave in 2014 reports are that we will be leaving Afghanistan in terrible shape and in an escalating civil war.
The article ends with a quote from the Pentagon news secretary who says the 2000 deaths is one of the “arbitrary milestones defined by others” that the U.S. administration does not mark… “We honor all courageous Americans who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.”
My personal view agrees with a what was send to me today and written by a soldier who recently came back from Afghanistan.
“War comes wrapped in patriotic slogans: calls for sacrifice, honor, and heroism; and promises of glory. It comes wrapped in the claims of divine providence. It is what a grateful nation asks of its children. It is what is right and just. It is waged to make the nation and the world a better place, to cleanse evil. War is touted as the ultimate test of manhood, where the young can find out what they are made off. From a distance it seems noble. It gives us comrades power and a chance to play a bit part in the great drama of history. It promises to give us identities as warriors, patriots, along as we go along with the myth, the one the war-makers need to wage wars and the defense contractors need to increase their profits. As a nation we prefer to listen to those who speak from the patriotic script. We prefer to hear ourselves exalted. If veterans speak of terrible wounds visible and invisible, of lies told to make them kill, of evil committed in our name, we fill our ears with wax. Not our boys and girls, we not them, bred in our homes, endowed with goodness and decency. For it is easy for them to murder, what about us? It is simpler and more comfortable not to hear, to wish only that they would calm down, be reasonable, get some help and go away. We brand our prophets as madmen. We cast them out into the desert. This is why so many veterans are estranged and enraged. This is why so many succumb to suicide or addictions… War is always about betrayal – betrayal of the young by the old, of idealists by cynics, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. The biggest misconception about war is that the solders care about politics. I think that most of the soldiers are young people that are having a decent adventure.” When we promote the military life to our young we are leading them down a path of misery. We are leading them to make the lives of others miserable and spreading the myth that people are better off when we invade their country, destroy their schools, homes and hospitals and put fear in the hearts of the people. We, who know better, need to instruct our young on the hazards of such a life.”
Yes war is always about betrayal.
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