Abolishing the War System: The Big Picture

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



Abolishing the War System: The Big Picture
The patina of glory that surrounds war is wearing off. Is this the beginning of the end of the war mindset?

by Michael N. Nagler
posted Oct 12, 2010


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 20, "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. We must take a step back—in fact, two steps—and take in the whole picture.

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

* 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 are unable to work, maintain relationships, or stay out of jail. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/abolishing-the-war-system-the-big-picture

[msongs]

1. today's soldiers view war as a video game and those dead people are not human beings nt