Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

Anger.

Liberal anger.

Why is this liberal so angry? Why am I so angry about the actions of my own country and my own country’s military? Why do I, and so many others, raise hell about the destruction wrought by the American military in Iraq, when the tactics of some of the Iraqi insurgents are so inhuman – so repulsive? Aren’t I disgusted by the kidnappings and beheadings, and the atrocities videotaped for the six o’clock news? Fuck yeah. Holy fucking shit yeah. I’m beyond disgusted, beyond enraged, beyond emotions I even knew I had.

Here’s the thing though. They are not my people. They are not acting in my name. My government does not directly arm them. I do not provide them, by my citizenship, with legitimacy. Their actions do not represent me in any way, shape or form. Over them, I have no power. I cannot vote for or against them. I cannot hold them personally accountable in any way. Their actions are not the actions of my government. Their war crimes are not my own.

The constitution of my country states, quite clearly, that the people provide the power and the legitimacy. By providing legitimacy and power, the people are responsible and accountable for the actions of their elected government, whether they agree or disagree with those actions. I am one of those people. I provide the legitimacy. The blood is on my hands too, and I’m pissed. Those Marines in Fallujah are fighting and dying and being mutilated and being scarred for life in my name. I’m pissed.

The Liberal Avenger had an amazing post about Fallujah the other day. He, quite powerfully, asks us to imagine that Fallujah is Boston, though any mid-sized American city would do. He asks us to imagine that our city has been destroyed, that our neighbors are lying dead and mutilated beyond recognition in the streets – their bodies eaten by stray dogs.

In a parallel, though less emotional way, Juan Cole asked us to imagine something quite similar, back in September, about the entire country of Iraq. He describes America as though it was Iraq, and explains what we would see.

Both posts are well worth a read.

Finally, there are over 21 million living veterans in this country. Some 300,000 of them are homeless. That’s a huge percentage. Clearly, something has gone very wrong. A whole new generation of veterans is coming home from Iraq. They joined the military for a multitude of reasons: love for their country, their desire to serve, to pay for college, to escape poverty, September 11th, to improve themselves, to house and cloth their families, and on and on.

They are coming home from a brutal war, having witnessed and taken part in countless days of destruction and horror. They are coming home from a war whose justification is in question (unquestionably wrong if you ask me). That can only make the horror of war all the more dreadful.

They went because we sent them, and they did what they were trained to do. How will they be treated? Will their physical and psychological wounds be treated properly and paid for in full, or will they be forgotten – dismissed as too inconvenient and expensive? Can we make this a real issue and actually do right by these men and women we sent to fight and die in our unjust war? Can we get it right? Just this once? Please?

- And yeah – I know a lot more are going.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 20th, 2004 at 2:41 am and is filed under Iraq. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.