A Stupid War To Die In: Charley Reese

[Martin Eden]

Pretty good commentary from Charley Reese:

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American soldiers are scared. They are in a bad place. Death is all around them and wears a thousand disguises. They don't know if a car contains a car bomb or innocent people. Quite sensibly, they have adopted the practice of "when in doubt, shoot." In a situation where somebody will end up dead and somebody will end up sorry, it is better to be the one who is sorry. Most people, though not all, can get over being sorry. Nobody can get over being dead.

Many innocent people have been killed at American checkpoints, and some American soldiers at checkpoints have been killed by people who were not innocent. It is the nature of guerrilla warfare. The enemy doesn't wear a uniform. Therefore, everyone is a suspect.

No one can blame an American soldier for wanting to come home in one piece. No one can blame him for doing whatever he, on the spot, thinks is necessary for his own survival. You can blame politicians for putting him in the situation, but once there, he has no choice but to concentrate on survival and to kill anybody who appears to be a threat.

This is far too stupid a war to get killed in if you can avoid it. Nearly all wars are stupid, but this one is close to the top. It was sold to the American people on false premises, and when the false premises were exposed, the slicksters didn't bat an eye and just changed the script. We went to war to spread democracy, not to disarm Saddam Hussein, they said. It is all for the benefit of the Iraqi people, excluding, of course, those who are killed, maimed or impoverished in the process. A majority of Americans bought it.

Of course, the American people don't have to go to Iraq. They don't have to pay any extra taxes. They don't have to suffer any inconveniences. They can just put little stickers and decals on their cars. That's their contribution to the war effort. They do not have to peer into the darkness of Baghdad and try to spot Death before he snatches you. They do not have to look at the dead or hear the screams of the wounded. They do not have to endure the heat or the cold or the dust. They do not have to stare at a landscape so bleak you wonder why anyone would want to live there.
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Read more:
http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=5161

[Mr Rabble]

1. Charley has had a good grasp

on the Iraq mess from the start.

[Skittles]

2. some of us do contribute more, Charley

I send care packages every two weeks to Iraq and believe me it ain't cheap. He should say MOST Americans don't care.

[Catfight]

3. It's a dumb war initiated by a dumb president. nt/

[MaineYooper]

4. I'd amend that:

a corrupt war initiated by a corrupt president.

[indepat]

5. Is this Reese fellow some cowardly bleeding-heart, commie-pinko liberal?

[Martin Eden]

6. He must be,

That cowardly bleeding heart, commie-pinko liberal Pat Buchanan keeps criticizing this war too!

[indepat]

7. If you ain't with them, you are a cowardly bleeding-heart, commie-pinko

liberal, the enemy, and a terrorist?

[Martin Eden]

8. Charley Reese is a terrorist

So is Pat Buchanan, you, me, all DUers, and millions upon millions of people world wide who are against the war in Iraq.

After all, our peerless leader stated that you're either "with us" (the makers of the war) or "with the terrorists."

Chimpy wouldn't say it if it wasn't so, would he?