The Good Guys?

Someone recently, with the revelation of abuse of prisoners by American soldiers, said, "We don't get to be the good guys anymore."

Am I alone in considering that a naive sentiment?

Okay, here it is: War is atrocious. Atrocities happen. These young men are babies, BABIES, recruited at eighteen, before their feet have finished growing, when their brains are still washable, while they are capable of committing fearsome acts against other humans because their superiors say they must. This is atrocious.

These babies are living in a hostile environment, watching corpses of their countrymen being burned and dragged through the street and hung from a bridge. This is atrocious. The soldiers hold in their hands not tokens from their sweethearts, or children of their siblings or books filled with poetry and philosophy but weapons. Huge heavy powerful noisy weapons designed for killing other humans, with who-knows-what in their own hands.

Perhaps books of poetry.

When were we ever the good guys? Haven't we always been imperialist pigs imposing our weapons and wills upon a country we deem (or pretend to deem) backwards, raping that land to gain the resource that we wish to control? Do I risk branding myself as a Marxist for saying this? These soldiers are going to take the blame for these most recent atrocities, as individuals, via the process of court martial, and be tarred and feathered and drummed out of town. This is atrocious.

I'm not sure who is to blame. The victims, who are humans, with families, of the wrong nationality this week? The soldiers? (who are not to be excused for doing a bad job of things just because they've been under a lot of stress but still, they hardly fall into the same category as Nazis. Do they?). The US military for not assigning sufficient supervision to these young soldiers who were handed more responsibility than they had maturity to handle? The US government, for sending soldiers to war? The President, for making up reasons to go to war? The the small and powerhungry sheeplike avid masses, who approve of a war we can win, making war an attractive option to a President who hears the death knell of waning popularity?

John the Apostle told his followers, "Love each other. Until you can do this one thing, I can teach you no more."

War is not the answer. Blame is not the answer. Hate is not the answer. Power is not the answer. Retribution is not the answer.

Guess what is.

Few are willing to take that risk, though. War is much easier.