Walking Softly

06/03/2006

Paul Munnis

We are well aware of charges being brought forth concerning American troops massacring and killing unarmed civilians. We are not rushing to editorial judgment until all of the investigations are done and the facts are all in.

From our own period of military service we know that when troops are in frontline battle situation for extended periods of time a few bad things happen that are stark reality.

First, they come to believe that the only good enemy is a dead enemy.

Second, they become convinced that insurgents and other bad guys could not operate without the support and collaboration of the civilian populace. It is a short leap to not trust civilians and to see able bodied men as collaborators and hence the enemy.

The only fix we know for this situation is to limit the amount of time spent on the front lines by troop units and in the case of a war such as we have in Iraq that is not feasible.

For many reasons military planners believe that wars of occupation are obsolete and ineffective. They consume too much resource for too little actual gain. In the case of the first Gulf War it was wisely chosen not to occupy Iraq. In this recent Iraq War we think the control of Iraqi Oil may have provided the rationale to go ahead and occupy the country. There were even scenarios, it is said, wherein the GOP felt that the Iraqi oil would pay for much of the war.

Jack Murtha continues to make the point that the Iraqi’s now are liberated, that the Iraqi’s have formed a government, that we have trained enemy forces to defend Iraq, and that we are unwanted there by the bulk of the Iraqi people. For all of these reasons, Rep. Murtha would have the USA resort to border protection and to begin a regular stand-down and withdrawal from Iraq. 

If these allegations of mass murder and atrocities prove founded then the atrocities will become recruiting posters for anti-Americanism throughout the mid-east. We may be forced to pull out in that instance anyhow.

We have waited a long time for the outcome of Iraq to become determined and it looks like more patience will be needed as the facts become revealed and obvious to all of us.

In the meantime there is no need to pour oil on the fire. We pray God that Americans did not behave as mass murderers.