Do We Really Want To Know?

As you may have heard, it seems that some people - people who were NOT "terrorists" - were slaughtered by U.S. Marines in Iraq. How do I know they were not terrorist? Well some of them were children. Some were infants. Some were old, and of limited mobility. And so on.

From what the military has said, AFTER trying to cover the incident up with some kind of lie about a fire fight with insurgents, this seems to be the "cause". A group of Marines were on patrol when a road side bomb killed one of them. In a fit of rage, they rounded up civilians and shot them to death.

But was "rage" truly the cause? I do not think so. There is no doubt in my mind that the investigation will list "rage" as a leading cause - but this is a lie.

So then what was the cause? Society does not truly want to know. But I know, and now you will know.

Military training is designed to take away humanity. It starts with the head shaving and uniforms. Everyone is made to look as similar as possible. Any trace of anything unique or different is removed.

Lets face some facts here, the military is NOT trained to arrange flowers. War is a messy job, with a lot of blood and death. To survive on a modern battlefield, you HAVE TO leave your humanity behind - or else you will probably die - because chances are the guy shooting at you has also lost his humanity. If you hesitate to shoot, who is to say that the other guy will do the same?

Now consider that most recruits are 18 or 19 years old. They are trained to follow orders, not question anything, and be able to remove their humanity much like they can remove a shirt. Then they are given a gun and sent off to a hostile environment.
The stress these guys are under is greater than ANYTHING anyone who is not there can possibly imagine.

And what happens when the stress and fear causes a breakdown? If your humanity is what prevents you from being a monster, what happens when that is taken away from you?

I think we know the answer. And NO, I am not saying the troops are "monsters". I am merely stating that when ANYONE looses the thing that makes them human, they have the potential to do inhuman things. Anyone. Even myself. Even you.

I predict that the investigation into what happened will end up in the conviction of a few low ranking marines. I say this because of what happened in the "naked dogpile" prison when the private first class photographed pointing became the major target of the investigation. Let the guy at the bottom take the fall seems to be a theme of the Bush Administration. Compare this to the Janet Reno Waco Standoff incident - who accepted the blame for that? Was it the guy who threw the smoke bomb in the house which started the fire? No, the person sitting in Washington DC and not anywhere near Texas took FULL responsibility.

And there is another reason why this incident CAN NOT be allowed to trickle up. Saddam Hussein is on trial for the death of 25 people. Now Hussein did not kill the people - he ordered others to do that for him. And he is being held accountable for that - not the people that carried out the orders. That is how these things usually work in these matters - go after those with rank, not after those at the bottom of the command structure. This is based on the theory that an organized military has discipline, and that nothing can happen without someone in command authorizing it.

But if this standard applied to the US Military, what would it mean? How far up the chain would things trickle? Who would stand trial if the investigation finds that there was a slaughter? Would it stop at a Sgt? Lt. Col? General? Secretary Of Defense? The Commander In Chief?

So some young soldier will end up taking the rap. And there WILL be someone to take the rap. The White House has already said that civilians WERE executed, and that there will be photos released. This did happen. The reports are horrific.

For the record, if they do only put a foot soldier or two on trial - I am calling bullshit. Leave the guys at the bottom alone - at this point they have gone through more than anyone should have to go through.

But we all know that they will just hang the lowest ranking people they can out to dry, while the person pulling the puppet strings remains on the job.