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[richlevy]

Originally posted by Undertoad
On the scope of war crimes this is a one on a scale of ten. If the expanded New Yorker bits are true it's a two on a scale of ten. If they had taken the prisoners out back and summarily executed them it would be a six on a scale of ten. Comprende? In war, people do some really fucked up shit.

Meanwhile Belmont Club points out,

We are at war, and the men in those hoods are the enemy.

And what really annoys me is that noone at the top appears to have considered this. When look at Bush's 'bring it on' comment, and his reference to a crusade, I get the impression of a person who really does not understand the gravity of a war. If Mr. Bush was more well read on history or had been in combat himself, I do not beleive he would have started this war, at least not at the time he did.

I have not heard of similar abuses in Yugoslavia by peacekeepers. Is that because they are perceived by themselves and the Yugoslavians as peacekeepers and not occupiers?

IMO, one of the mistakes was having National Guardsmen as guards. At least the regular army knew they were joining the Army and half expecteed to end up in someplace like Iraq. The reservists and guard members who signed up to pay for their tuition or help their families now find themselves on a 12 to 18 month deployment in a war that a majority of the world does not support and only about half their country supports. Place people like this in charge of other human beings and the crushing responsibility and displaced anger, fail to support them and even encourage some abuse, and the result should be obvious.

Except I didn't see it coming. Of course, I'm not a professional tactition. But the people in charge didn't plan for it, which means they either were incompetant and negligent, or wanted these results.

It's time for a clean sweep. At this point, even if my pick as President were in charge, I'd say it's time for a change. A new Command in Chief, a new Secretary of Defense, and maybe a new Secretary of State, although Powell seems like he could be effective if someone in the White House would just listen to him.

I would personally love to see McCain as Secretary of Defense. He has a great public presence and a reputation for integrity. His background as a POW might help to diffuse this current crisis. Only a Democratic president would offer him the job, since it would put a Republican seat in Congress up for grabs.

It's also time to start planning what to do with all of the mentally fucked up men and women who will be coming back from this war. I hope they can stop building the bombers and attack subs long enough to make sure that the VA has enough resources for that.