The Consequences of War
"Word that the Marine Corps would prosecute eight of its own in the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians elicited the same reaction from the families of the accused and the neighbors of the dead: justice won't be served."
Have there been atrocities in Iraq? Yes. On both sides. As they say, war is hell. There has not been a war in which the innocent were not killed. There has not been a war in which fear did not turn to anger, hate to rage. There has not been a war when soldiers, filled with fear and frustration, did not see enemies in the faces of the innocent. But in Iraq, too often the seemingly innocent -- even children -- have turned out to be the enemy, recognized too late to save a buddy. The hatred of the populace, their known harboring of terrorists, the innocuous goat grazing by the side of the road that suddenly explodes, the constant roaming snipers following every move, the close quarters, the heat, the blowing sand, the constant strain -- it is no wonder the human mind snaps.
These eight marines are not the only soldiers to cross over some invisible line during this war. Will we prosecute every soldier who harms a civilian? Will Iraqis who harbor terrorists in their homes, who bring them guns, who rig roadside wreckage with bombs, who shoot at our soldiers by night and walk insolently past them by day -- will they be prosecuted? This is war. It is easy to point out an American soldier and accuse him of overstepping the bounds of civility. They are all in uniform. It is nearly impossible to point out the Iraqi who commits an atrocity, often against his own neighbors. They blend into the background, living openly under their enemy's eyes.
My outrage balances on a knife edge. I am outraged that disciplined soldiers succumbed to rage. But I am more outraged that our country places our soldiers in a situation that drives them to such rage and then prosecutes them as common criminals. This was no premeditated rape of a 14-year-old child and cover-up murder of her family. This was war. When every citizen you meet is a potential enemy, you don't knock politely on doors and ask, "May I arrest the terrorist, please?" You barge in, guns at the ready, expecting every movement to be the bullet that kills you. That is the reality of war. If our military no longer has the stomach for the consequences of war, maybe it's time to come home.
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In another matter, I was heartened to read in the Washington Post that US Muslim leaders gathered this week at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC to commemorate Jewish suffering under the Nazis. Imam Mohamed Magid proclaimed that American Muslims "believe we have to learn the lessons of history and commit ourselves: Never again." After the outrageous fairy tales being told in Iran, it gives me hope that reasonable Muslims will prevail against radical extremists in the fight to control the path of Islam.
