Replace the War System: Why and How

[unhappycamper]

Replace the War System: Why and How
by Michael Nagler
Published on Monday, September 27, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

About the murderous rampage of U.S. soldiers from the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade who killed and dismembered Afghani civilians, evidently “for sport,” the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported on September 20th, “Army officials have not disclosed a motive” for the outrage. Let me try.

Violence is puzzling when we can’t see the forest for the trees. If we focus on just this event – and it’s certainly a shocker – we may not realize that it’s part of a much larger pattern, to see which we want to take a step back – in fact, in two – to get the whole picture.

What these men did is only one of many signs of breakdown in both our long-drawn-out wars in the Middle East. In Iraq, for example, from a report filed by McClatchy’s Washington Bureau on September 17th:

* Drug and alcohol abuse in the ranks, and the associated misdemeanor offenses, have risen alarmingly in the nine-year course of the war. "Drug and alcohol abuse is a significant health problem in the Army," stated a 350-page report the Army released in July.
* Sexual assault tripled in the period 2001-2009; and most telling:
* So did suicide. There were 148 Army suicides in the first six months of this year and the toll is expected to surpass last year’s grim total of 160.

Moreover, record numbers of veterans from both wars “broken,” dysfunctional, unable to work, to stay in relationships, or out of jail.

[chrisa]

1. Sadly, many of them are no better than convicts.

If they were back here in the US, they would be in jail. Instead, we put a gun in their hands and call them a marine (or whatever).