After the day of remembrance for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York, it is only fair that we also take the time to remember the casualties of the post-911 era.
We must remember all the American soldiers that have fallen in the wars on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq and all the civilian casualties in both those wars.
May they all rest in peace!
I think Buffy had it right
ReplyDeleteThe Universal Soldier always is to blame
Apmel, my friend, I hope you know I have always liked you (Well, except for a week or so a very, very long time ago but that is forgiven and will soon be forgotten,)
ReplyDeleteUnlike some who have told me the same thing recently, I will not turn on you the next moment and write up a post on my blog where I call you "an ass-licker" and "a megaphone for someone else´s views".
Firstly if my information is correct it was Donovan who wrote the lyrics for "Universal Soldier" although Buffy Sainte-Marie set them to music.
Secondly I think the views of individual responsibility for each soldier to say no to take part in war is very romantic and idealized. I even remember singing along loudly when I was young, but I have grown older and become more jaded and perhaps have lost a bit of my idealized view on how the problems of the world are solved.
For instance I do not believe that all wars are unjust. I also believe that some wars need to be fought - always as a last resort but still. If for nothing else then to stand up against bullying on the national or international scale and to protect our right to freedom and our other democratic rights.
I also firmly believe that such a huge responsibility cannot - and even should not - be placed on an individual alone. We as nations and societies must instead work together to find ways to prevent war and form peacekeeping partnerships.
Well Bock, Buffy explains it well I think in the video.. please listen to her talk before the song. If you still don´t agree, we can talk :)
ReplyDeleteI´ll do that, Apmel, sorry I thought you were talking about the song itself not Buffy´s talk before. ;)
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa gotcha, Apmel, but we can talk anyway! ;)
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. Invasion of Iraq was a tremendous tragedy. It never should have taken place.
ReplyDeleteHere is what has happened as a result:
1. Thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead, wounded, maimed, or left orphans and widows. One might raise the argument that the current Iraq is a much better place for them to live than under the butcher Saddam Hussein (he and his sons were truly monsters, this is no propaganda). However, was it worth the price of killing thousands of them and not let a natural process of politics remove him? And does one country have the right to impose its politics on another?
2. As bad as Hussein was, he did keep the peace, and my guess is that the war between Shia and Sunni in Iraq will never really stop under current conditions. Things are worst now for the people there than they were, and probably will be for the next 50 years.
3. Iraq served as a buffer against Iranian Shia radical expansion. There is no buffer now, and as Wikileaks confirms, the Arab states are petrified over Iranian nuclear weapons, more than any over issue.
4. The war in Iraq (and Afghanistan) has bled the United States dry economically. It has also reinforced the view in many parts of the world that the United States has turned into a monster, seeking to impose its rather narrow sighted view of morality and democracy upon other nations at the expense of killing thousands. Although I feel this is unfair, this is the result of unrestricted aggression.
5. The war in Iraq is the one single event that began the decline of the United States as the one remaining world superpower. I imagine many will applaud this, but if the U.S. withdraws into "fortress America" the rest of the world could become a more dangerous place. This is a debatable point.
6. Modern media has insured that the torture, civilian casualties, and other violent aspects of modern war has hurt the image of the United States, especially in the Islamic and Arabic worlds, and is serving as a key recruiting ground for further terrorism. Frankly, the United States of the Abu Grib person with dogs and water-boarding is something that disgusts me as an American.
If only the people of Palm Beach County Florida where I live (and I voted by confusing absentee ballot) in the year 2000 were able to put together ballot that could be counted, Al Gore would have been elected a much better Democratic President (the election was decided by a huge hundred votes right here) and not "Bush". So blame this county for the mess that we are in.
Thanks Eddi, I agree with almost everything you say, except the part where you seem to place the blame solely on the U.S.
ReplyDeleteThere have been other stakeholders in this mess, most of them without paying the same high price as the U.S. neither monetarily, morally or politically.
It is true however that the Iraqi intervention started with George W. Bush lying to himself and everyone else with the claim that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq that necessitated the invasion. The reason Bush got away with those lies was of course that others had vested interests they were trying to protect.
I cannot see the problems today in Iraq or Afghanistan as only the work of the U.S., neither is it their obligation alone to try clearing it up.
That's right Bock! I am going to start blaming the Swedes for all this! :)
ReplyDeleteFell free to do that, Eddi! Why not even go so far to blame it on PetGirl Bergman, she is such a convenient scapegoat for everything that happens in both lives?
ReplyDelete:-) yepp I agree...
ReplyDelete/Tina