It’s not just patriotic, but absolutely necessary, to question American deaths in wartime.

[kpete]

Gourley is weighing in on former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s book, and new movie, “Lone Survivor,” about a failed mission in Afghanistan that took 19 lives:

“Yes, Marcus. They did die in vain.”

Throughout history, our nation’s greatest leaders have understood on a deeply personal level that however honorably a soldier acquits himself, he can die in vain, and that it is the responsibility of the leaders and citizenry to see to it that they don’t. Our country has lost its sense of that responsibility to a horrifying extent. Our generals have lost the capability to succeed and the integrity to admit failure. Our society has lost the courage and energy to hold them accountable. Over the last decade, our top leaders have wasted the lives of our sons, daughters, and comrades with their incompetence and hubris. After each failure, our citizens have failed to hold them accountable, instead underwriting new failed strategies as quickly as their predecessors with our apathy and sense of detachment. And then we use the tired paeans of “never forget” and “honor the fallen” to distract ourselves from our guilt in the affair. When we blithely declare that they did not die in vain, we deface their honor by using it to wipe the blood from our hands.

We have lost our collective ability to win a war as well as the strength of character to accept defeat. And in the end, it is those who represent the epitome of that character we lack that pay the price. Can there be a death any more in vain than one that secures for us freedoms that we hold in such low regard as to not even use them on behalf of those that protect us? If there is, I cannot think of one.

It is my greatest hope that Luttrell’s response opens a national dialogue on this subject, and that people finally embrace the true, terrible nature of our self-inflicted losses. Let us as a nation finally feel the guilt we ought to for failing our civic duty. And let that be what we remember before we send the next servicemember to battle. For surely, there will be a next war. When it comes, let us be a nation of people who are as faithful to our principles and considerate of our obligations as those who fight for us. Let us be worthy of their sacrifice. That is the only way to prevent them from dying in vain.

MORE:
http://americablog.com/2014/01/foreign-policy-yes-marcus-die-vain.html
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/01/15/yes_marcus_they_did_die_in_vain

[Scuba]

1. The film is unadulterated war-is-glorious propaganda.

I'm sure lots of red-blooded young Americans will turn up at the recruiting offices after seeing this movie.

[4Q2u2]

2. Wrong Person to ask.

Why does not Mr. Tapper ask that question to the people whom it should be put to. To lay that at the foot of Mr Luttrell is just plain wrong. Like any single person fighting in those Wars decided on their own start a War in some far off country.

Mr. Tapper is also confusing Macro and Micro situations, (along with the Commentators). In the grand scheme of things, the actions of the American War collective as a whole is not what Marcus is looking at. The lives of his Shipmates were not in vain in his eyes. He is alive because they are not. They lost their lives fighting right next to him. If any one of them or all abandoned him in that fight, he assuredly would have died. That is the micro of the situation. So to suggest to him that those precious lives lost were in Vain is a disservice to the sacrifice they made to him, allowing him to come home alive. I can guarantee you that in the middle of the fire fight none of them were thinking of or saying win one for President Bush or any other dickweed. It was about the guy next to you, always has been and always needs to be. Agitated and upset, you bet. He was right to be.

As for the Macro of the situation, look in the mirror, look to those are supposed to Guard our precious resources. If you do not like what you see, do not lay it at the feet of the Troops. That is a cop out of ones responsibility as a citizen.