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[richlevy]

Originally posted by Undertoad
What would an Iraqi say?

Alaa, The Mesopotamian

Unfortunately, everyone knew Saddam was a bad man. It wasn't news. The US, as crusaders, are the 'good guys'. It's just like the fact that child molesters exist is not news, the fact that some priests were child molesters and that some individuals in the heirarchy knew about it and took little or no action raises the issue to a new level.

We went in there on a crusade, and like the last Crusade (actually there were 8 to 12 over hundreds of years), this one has been fraying around the edges as a significant minority sink to the lowest level.

Now, we can say that because no blood was shed and no permanent injury was done, that this is not as bad as Saddam's regime. In fact, the concept of 'bloodless torture' was what was proposed by Pope Innocent IV at the start of the Inquisition around the time of one of the Crusades.

In 1252 Pope Innocent IV authorized,

"torture which will not imperil life or injure just as thieves and robbers are forced to accuse their accomplices, and to confess their crimes; for these heretics are true thieves, murderers of souls, and robbers of the sacraments of God."

The problem with all war, especially murky ones, is that in addition to the dead and physically wounded, the spiritually wounded come back home. These are the ones who have to worry about going near an amusement park because the children's happy screams might trigger a flashback.

I am actually as concerned for the US soldiers who acted as torturers as I am for their victims. These men and women, unless they have gone completely cold inside, must have some attacks of conscience. One of the reasons that Milgram got into so much trouble was that his subjects, after the experiment was over and they were told that they had caused no actual damage, were still devastated.

The men and women who participated, the ones who didn't but kept quiet, all of them will have that guilt follow them for the rest of their lives. Unlike combat, there can be no 'fog of war' excuse. They did this premeditated and in cold blood.

People accuse Kerry of flip-flopping on the war and being indecisive. I think that he and every other 'blooded' veteran in Congress understand what war really means and were trying to be cautious. One need only look at the problems of Vietnam-era veterans to understand the mental toll war takes on men and women.

These dozen men and women only represent a fraction of the mess we are going to have to deal with when all of these troops come home. The cost, emotional as well as monetary, will continue long after every soldier is home.

God save us all.