Article on Collective Denial that Abu Ghraib was "A few bad apples"

[Sandpiper]

This comes from a libertarian site, but is brutally accurate in its assessments.


What Does the Geneva Convention Say About S&M?
by Steven Greenhunt

Ninety-nine point nine-nine-nine percent of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are noble and honorable souls doing wonderful work. How do I know that? Well, the media, members of Congress and virtually every talking head I’ve seen on TV tell me that.

<snip>

Why do Americans assume that their fellow Americans would never do the evil things that people from other countries do? Why do American commentators of the Left and Right insist that what took place was clearly an aberration, when evidence continues to portray a more widespread pattern of torture and abuse?

<snip>

Let’s face another uncomfortable truth: The people on the front lines, carrying out the orders and doing the dirty work, are not always the most honorable people in society. That’s true when we’re talking about police forces and federal agents in America and it’s true about armed forces occupying foreign lands.

<snip>

Think about it. Who becomes a member of the armed forces, especially during a booming economy?

I know there are good and decent people in the military. But often the kind of people attracted to such a career are people who: a) Have few other skills or options available to them; b) Like to give or take orders; c) Like to blow things up and kill people; d) Are most comfortable in a highly regimented, bureaucratic environment where they don’t have to make nuanced moral distinctions.

<snip>

http://www.lewrockwell.com/greenhut/greenhut33.html

[corporatewhore]

1. but but they are the good guys who can do no wrong it is only the arabs

and other non whites who are capable of such hate and autrocities no matter what right or wrong we have got to support "our" troops just like "our" president

[KoKo]

2. I think our poster TahitiNut had some thoughts on this in a thread here

this a.m. This article might make a case for bringing back the draft. But, not a strong enough one for me yet. Bringing back the draft would just cause more folks to get dragged into wars when they are mixed in with the personalities described above.

I also think lots of good kids have to go into the Military because they need the money. That they are taken advantage of by being trained by folks who who don't give a damn about how "occupiers" should treat folks in a supposedly civilized American Military speaks more to our Officer training than it does to the folks who inlist. :shrug:

[scarletwoman]

3. What makes them "good" kids?

I live in a rural area, and in the high school in the nearest small town, alot of the kids opt for going into the military. These aren't particularily "good" kids, they are by in large mediocre kids. Kids who have no creative spark, kids who have no interest in learning about the world beyond their limited experience, kids who have no ambition beyond figuring out how to earn a living.

The military attracts these kids because they have no idea of what else to do with their lives. They have no philosophy, no talent or desire for introspection, no thirst for knowledge or enlightenment -- such concepts are completely foreign to them.

They are the racists, the bullies, and the unconscious white supremacists. They are the hazers and the members of cliques who love to put down anyone who is different. They are the willing dupes of consumerism, the motorheads who think tearing up the woods in their ATVs and snowmobiles is their god-given right as Americans.

They are not "good", they're just ignorant and incapable of critical thought.

sw

[mac56]

4. Not all mediocre, either.

I think for a lot of small-town kids, the military is their only ticket out. It's unfair to tar them all with the same brush.

[scarletwoman]

5. Well, I'm talking about the kids I know about.

My son went to that high school. I know who the kids are who chose to go into the military. I'm talking about what I've seen. I'll certainly grant you that it may be too broad a brush, but in my neck of the woods, it's the norm that I have personally observed.

sw