i cant think: Marines Accused of Killing Innocents

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May 25, 2006

Marines Accused of Killing Innocents

NBC reports today that as many as 19 U.S. Marines deployed in Iraq are under investigation for killing an innocent Iraqi civilian and then trying to cover-up the crime:

As many as seven Marines are accused of dragging an innocent Iraqi man from his home in April, killing him in cold blood and then trying to cover up the crime, NBC News has learned.

Further, military officials tell NBC that at least one of the Marines has reportedly confessed in the killing, saying they find the allegations especially disturbing because the case appears to have been a premeditated killing and not carried out in the heat of combat.

Does this really come as a surprise to anyone? Do we really learn nothing from history? Or is it that we simply no longer care, no longer have the intelligence or the willpower to break away from 'American Idol', no longer have the strength or courage to stand up and say no to the madness that surrounds us?

We, as a country, have been here before. And apparently we are hell-bent on going back again.

On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. "This is what you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and you've got it," said their superior officers. A short time later the killing began. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the U.S. political establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American public. (www.pbs.org)

Now, I'm not saying that the current charges, should they be true, rise to the level of the atrocities committed on that spring day in 1968. But I am saying that we are firmly on our way there.

How does one train a man to kill, give him license to kill, put him in an environment where killing is simply part of the day's routine, and then tell him not to kill?

The human psyche is remarkably resilient and adaptive. We still do not understand all of the intricacies of the human mind, and we may never understand. But we do know that humans, over time, can adapt to circumstances that an 'ordinary' person would find unthinkable. And we also know that authority can be just as dangerous as a lack of authority. We have now entered into another unwinnable war, one in which the goal keeps changing, one in which victory is always just around the corner. But the people in authority tell us that we must go on. We've come this far, we can't stop now. To pull out now would be to admit defeat, to be mocked as cowards, to invite the enemy to encamp at our front door.

History shows us very clearly what happens in this kind of situation. Faced with a task that is impossible to accomplish, one with no clearly defined goal, indeed one that is designed to have no goal and no end, soldier's frustration will mount and keep mounting until a breaking point is reached. Military suicides are rising. Civilian casualties are rising. Reports of military crimes are rising. In the famous words of that venerable comic-strip character Pogo, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us."

These 19 Marines, should the charges prove true, have committed a repugnant act.

But what is truly repugnant is that we willingly allow this to happen.

Posted by bcoffee at May 25, 2006 08:07 PM