My problem, I suppose is that I thought my great nation was above these things. I don't fault the guys pulling the triggers, though some would argue
that I should, but I fault those giving the orders, from the comfort of their leather chairs, air conditioning and fat salaries.
This is ONLY ONE SIDE, I realize that. A 'bleeding heart', perhaps. To be fair, I KNOW there are atrocities on ALL sides of conflicts, but the ENEMY
is supposed to be the bad guy.
I suppose these could be staged, they could be made up, they could be CGI or Hollywood special effects. They are certainly not representative of our
fighting men and women. We support these wars though, right?
(warning-graphic)
Afghan Massacre: the Convoy of Death
War Crimes and the White House: The Bush Administration's Cover-Up of the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre
War Crimes Caught on Video
Wounded Iraqi Killed
US Tank crushes Iraqi civilian's car
Lifting the Hood - Iraq
We went to Iraq and Afghanistan with principles, right? We had a REASON to go. We had WMDs to find and Al Qaeda and Taliban to defeat, right?
Maybe I should just get over it. I'm an American. I love my country. I love YOU guys, even when I make you mad, or you make me mad, or we can't
agree, or I'm stupid.
I can rationalize these. I can look at the 'big picture.' Are we supposed to HAVE to rationalize the actions of our country? If these things
weren't being done then more bad guys would blow up more of our buildings, right?
Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
www.icrc.org...
Art 17. Every prisoner of war, when questioned on the subject, is bound to give only his surname, first names and rank, date of birth, and army,
regimental, personal or serial number, or failing this, equivalent information.
...
No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind
whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.
We get by THAT one by claiming they aren't really 'prisoners of war', right?
I think when a nation has learned to love killing and torture, there is little hope for them. When the citizens of that nation have learned to justify
those actions, we can certainly, just as easily, be on the receiving end and probably deserve to be.