Hurrah! A political rant...

[trinityvixen]

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the death toll for our troops in Iraq has now reached that sacred barrier: we have suffered 1000+ deaths since invading that country, and seven times that many have been injured (the number of Iraqi deaths is, as you can imagine, quite higher and less well documented). The New York Times has a long article dedicated to this story, interviewing family members, the whole shebang. I came across one line this morning that makes me despair in ways the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Cheney's "If you vote for Kerry, you're responsible if there's another terrorist attack in the next four years" never did.

A relative of a fallen soldier said that, while saddened, he was honored at the sacrifice of his brother's life. Honored. Really. Is that what it takes to sleep at night? Is it so easy to say "it's a great honor to die for your country" and forget that the life that was lost is lost forever? Does the blanket of 'honor' help you forget holding that baby brother, seeing your baby learn to walk, getting tips on riding a bike from your dad? Does saying "honor is all" mean that any loss is okay so long as it's honorable?

And I haven't even touched the fact that while the sacrifice is noble, the cause is not, and honor may be hard to come by outside of the victim's family and friends. Certainly, the honor that the government should be extending is severely lacking, with Bush doing nothing to make sure the troops are actually equipped to the best of our capability. He talks the talk, but when it comes to walking, Bush does it in the wrong direction, sending us in ill-equipped, nearly friendless, then slashing benefits and salaries of the men and women he expects to fight his war and, in so doing, make him President for a second term. That's right. War mentality is gripping America, and it's winning Bush's re-election because there is an unconscious desire in people to believe that we need to support the President or ::gasp:: we will lose.

In the name of 'honor,' one man can justify the fact that his little brother is gone, and in the name of 'honor,' he believes the loss is not the president's fault. For the sake of not losing, people will rally around Bush, and he will take these grieved-yet-'honored' families and use them as a democracy-proof vest. I pray that, in time, the life of a loved one will be more important than their honorable death. I pray for these families that have lost their brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, and for those that aren't dead but wounded for life, carrying a scar on their person or soul thanks to this war. While I cannot pray for justice for them in the way that I would like, instead I would hope, would so much as like their faces to haunt George W. Bush to the end of his days. I want Rummy, Ashcroft, Cheney, Rove, Condy, even Powell, to remember in the way the families remember, not just to say they do. Otherwise, in the name of honor, I despair for the human condition.

Comments

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Very eloquently put, although I don't have a problem with saying someone died "honorably." Dying in the name of a hopeless cause is honorable; we all have to die sometime, and there's a lot to be said for dying in an effort to make the world a better place (instead of just lying in a hospital bed, sinking into oblivion). If Iraq was all about "bringing democracy to the Middle East" (and I think some of the war's architects were sincere) then it was an honorable cause (if a pretty hopeless one). It's too bad that Bush fucked it all up and the boy's sacrifice was pointlessly wasted.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem with the fact that anyone can and would die for honor. Honor is honor, held in high regard through many cultures and governments and religions. I have a problem with people using it to shield themselves from grief, using it as a buffer to ignore that fact that the honor is tainted by the needlessness of the sacrifice. It's about deluding yourself into believing that honorable death makes up for the deceit and betrayal that caused it.

::sigh:: And then there's this ad on NYTimes' website saying "What the 9/11 Commission says about Saudi Arabia" that is paid for by their embassy and highlights all the good they've done to stop terrorists. While I applaud catching the criminals, perhaps they would do well to stop the conditions that *breed* terrorists in their own country before they can get started with their death agendas.

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I'm willing let the bereaved cope any way they can (as long as they're not demanding more killing as an answer to it). I understand your point, and I know the dangers of this kind of thinking: If the boy's death was honorable, some would say, we should send more and more troops to Iraq to make sure he didn't "die in vain." Still, I'll give mourning families a pass.

I'm a bit weak-kneed when it comes to the Saudis, since I'm worried the place would blow up if it isn't handled carefully. (I don't know if Saudis should be shutting down radical madrases and so forth.) My problem is more with Bush's attempts to shield the Saudis from scrutiny; whisking the Bin Laden family out of the US before the FBI could interview them, for example. What Saudi nationals do in the United States is every bit our business, and his efforts in this case were inexcusable.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

They're doing damage control for the curiously underreported accusations in Sen. Graham's new book, Intelligence Matters, that basically (if I have the right of it) suggests that the Saudi government is directly funding Al Qaeda.

(What reportage there is in the NYT is here...)

Again, I haven't read it, but if that accusation is accurate... US Constitution, Art. 3 Sec. 3 Clause 1...

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/LostPoets/Dulce.html

Wlfred Owen. Always relevant, it seems.

[viridian.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm not sure I like the "Unless you've been living under a rock" thing, as some of us don't watch tv and don't get bombarded with every single possible media source daily.

[cbreakr.livejournal.com]

you should send this post into a newpaper somewhere. I like the idea of the "democracy-proof vest"

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

War mentality is gripping America, and it's winning Bush's re-election


this is what REALLY makes me angry. especially at the sheep other people who live in our country.

this is how Howard got in for his second term, and it looks likely that this is going towin him the next election here (in october) especially with the recent attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

This really saddens me that he can use this 'fear' mentality to manipulate people, and that THEY FALL FOR IT AND STILL VOTE FOR HIM.

even though he has been PROVEN to have LIED to the australian public again and AGAIN, they still fucking vote for him.

i swear to god, if the australian people re-elect him AGAIN, i will consider moving to New Zealand.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Hey, jesu maria, I read about the bombing in Jakarta...oh man, not again. And the paper here said it was most likely that your embassy was hit because it was easier to get at than ours. So stupid...and all JI did was hit Indonesians and kill them.

Good luck getting rid of Howard. Maybe we can boot Dubya if you guys give Howard the shaft. That would leave us with like only one first-world country leader left on our side, British Prime Minister Tony Blair (WHY TONY WHY!?!). Maybe that would wake up the rest of the country to one very solid fact: THE REST OF THE WORLD--THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD AND NOT JUST THE MUSLIMS YOU FEEL IT IS OKAY TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST UNILATERRALLY--DOESN'T LIKE THE US VERY MUCH.

However, it's funny that you're thinking of going to New Zealand. It's the Down Under version of Canada! Blame New Zealand! Blame New Zealand! It's seems that everything's gone wrong since New Zealand came along...