Right now, one of the dog handlers from the debacle at Abu Ghraib is going to trial. Unlike the previous dog handler tried, the attorneys for this guy are calling in some officers furher up the chain of command, trying to give some substance to the whole "he was under orders" theory of innocence.

I did a little web search and found the infamous pictures...MPs giving thumbs up beside an Iraqi's blood-covered ass...it's disturbing. In my opinion, it's gonna be hard selling a jury that he was under orders of that nature.

My sister knew the handler - in fact, she lived with him for awhile. She says this doesn't surprise her at all; he always seemed a little off. But then we got into how a perfectly normal, rational, compassionate human being could get so bitter, how war could dehumanize the enemy so far for a decent person, that things like this would be perfectly normal and acceptable.

This conversation put something in perspective for me that I hadn't really considered: it's not just the dead whose lives are being ruined. The dead, the wounded, they have physical, tangible wounds from this war....but those whose bodies aren't damaged are still forever changed. How can a person spend month after month, tour after tour, year after year, living in a constant state of fight-or-flight, us-or-them, kill-or-be-killed, without warping critical parts of what makes us human? All these soldiers, going back through Iraq again and again, having their discharge dates pushed back over and over, forced to fight every moment of every day....and let's face it, in order for a relatively normal person to be killing, there's a mental trick you have to play - you have to make them the bad guys, take away their humanity....and when they're killing your buddies, probably not hard to do. But when the war is over, can you give it back? Can you stop hating them, stop seeing them as targets, stop wanting to kill them just for breathing? I don't know.

And that's not even considering all the Iraqis who live and grow up in this environment of hatred and danger and death. How can they not despise Americans? Aybody who thinks we aren't helping out the insurgency's recruitment efforts just by staying in Iraq...well, I'm not going to say they're stupid, but I don't se much logic in any other way of looking at it.

War is horrible, and when this war is over (may it be soon!), I believe the repercussions will go so far beyond anything anyone is expecting. I think bringing our troops home will be bringing home an entire military's worth of waking wounded with mental and emotional issues on a scale that is frightening....and I lay that at the feet of our President. I hope he's happy.

Recent entries...
27 December 2007: 2007: Finis.
17 December 2007: A ruse, a rant, and a poem. It's short.
11 December 2007: Music & falling....story of my life.
08 December 2007: Briefly...ish.
29 November 2007: A poem, a rant, a lesson.