Political Whispers: A Look Into Today's World of Dark Politics

SURVEY SHEDS SOME SAD FACTS ON IRAQ WAR CONDUCT

By Schuyler Thorpe
Author and Political Activist

What did we go to Iraq for? To find Saddam’s WMDs? Nope.

To overthrow a once US-supported impotent dictator? Nope.

To give the Iraqis their freedoms and liberties? Nope.

To make Iraq a model of freedom and democracy in the Middle East? Nope.

So what did we go to Iraq for?

Well, according to a latest survey of US troops, we went there to torture the very people we are trying to save, and to mistreat civilians while we’re at it.

Shocking? Yes.

The study by an army mental health advisory team found continuing problems with morale and that acute mental health issues were more prevalent among troops with lengthening tours or on their second and third deployment to Iraq.

So what does this mean?

It means that our troops mental facilities are breaking down with each extended tour. It would explain a lot about the Haditha incident last fall and Abu Ghraib in 2004.

This report says that the burden of extending tours and an endless war is wearing down our military–and as a result–our government is either blind or inherently ill-equipped to deal with the situation.

But more than that, it shows that our troops are beginning to show a hardened, indifferent attitude towards Iraqi civilians: Exhibiting behavior which would almost suggest a teenage mentality.

Examples:

About 10 percent of soldiers surveyed reported mistreating non-combatants or damaging their property when it was not necessary.

Less than half of the soldiers and marines would report a team member for unethical behavior.

More than a third of all soldiers and marines reported that torture should be allowed to save the life of a fellow soldier or marine.

Why is this happening now?

In the words of Major General Gale Pollock–the army’s acting surgeon general: "These men and women have been seeing their friends injured and I think that having that thought is normal."

And while Pollock is saying that because of their military leadership is preventing them from acting on these thoughts, it makes one wonder:

How long will it before the military brass is burned out from constant war–and this mental “instability” starts affecting them?

Just one more reason why this war should end and end sooner rather than later.

But I doubt that Bush sees this as a problem. I seriously doubt that he understands the mental strain our men and women are under.

Because to him, war is a game. But war profiteering? That is a horse of an entirely different color.

Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1@yahoo.com

Labels: Bush, condone, Iraqi civilians, mental strain, report, torture, US soldiers

posted by Schuyler Thorpe @ 2:49 PM