Monsters and villains

It's a multi-layer set of bad guys

Published on May 12, 2004 By Draginol In Politics

Here's a great article I found that really talks about just how absurd the situation is where people go from one day feeling great anguish about the abuse of POWs to the next day wanting to "turn the whole place into a parking lot" due to changes in events.

The fact is, there are villains in any military or any organization. But there are also real monsters out there. Some people villify the United States. But what they don't seem to recognize is that there are real monsters that lurk out there ready to do things that most people can't even begin to imagine.

In some discussions I've seen people say "Well yea, but that was the past..." Some of the most monstrous atrocities in human history are within our lifetimes. The 21st century doesn't mark the end of history. It's just a continuation of it where monsters continue to try to get ahold of deadlier and deadlier means to reach their bloody ends.

That those fighting the monsters have villains lurking in their ranks doesn't change what they are fighting. What we need, however, is for people to get some perspective. Some context. That we can't have an emotion-drive policy. We can no more just free all the Iraqi prisoners and abandon Iraq unilaterally than we can simply get mad and start "nuking" our enemies (real or imagined).

Check out the article for a much more intelligent analysis than I can do.

Comments

dharmagrl

on May 12, 2004

That those fighting the monsters have villains lurking in their ranks doesn't change what they are fighting

Well said. It seems that people are blinkered by the assinine actions of a few idiots and have lost sight of the 'big picture'.

vernmeister2u

on May 12, 2004

I can't begin to express how much I appreciate reason, rationality and context applied to this situation. Thanks for the link.

VES

cloudface

on May 12, 2004

I bet Germans believed their army was fighting the good fight back in 1939..maybe one day about 50 years from now 1 American will open his eyes and go 'dear God it's like Orwell's 1984..

Erique Dela Crappe

on May 13, 2004

Interesting article. I agree fully with the first part, many of the things coming to light now through pictures and video's, from both sides of the fence, have always been happening and have always been known to happen in just about every war. It is the visualisation of these events that charges people and let's them be taken over by there emotions, chucking all rationality out of the window.

However...

Isn't the main reason why America has gotten into the War on Terror in the first place also not based on the visual images of planes flying into buildings, of people jumping of burning towers and of a Manhattan covered in smoke and ashes? It was known for years that Osama & Co were dangerous, they had been plotting AND executing a whole range of violent acts against America and its' allies. Taking that in mind, 9/11 wasn't all that surprising and not necessarily the logical starting point for a full scale war on terror. This war is just as much an emotional reaction, no matter the rationalisations that were/are made up for it afterwards.

As for the facts stated in the second part of the article:

The enemy has attacked America on its own soil and therefore must be defeated utterly.

The American embassies bombed in Africa were American soil as well. But that's besides the point. Osama should have been taken out much earlier, period. And unless you put all elements in this world unfriendly to the US on one big pile, call them "The Enemy" and as such hold them collectively responsible for the Twin Towers attack, the war in Iraq has nothing to do with 9/11.
And defeating them utterly? Forget about it. You are not talking about a well defined and limited group of individuals you can track down and destroy, you are talking about an infinite group of potential enemies to come.

Members of the US military have committed a court-martial offense and therefore they must be punished severely.

Absolutely. If America wants to be better than its' enemies, it only makes sense that people lowering themselves to their standards should be punished.

Any withdrawal from Iraq will not bring safety from enemy action inasmuch as they attacked Manhattan and Washington DC nearly two years before OIF. Any withdrawal from Iraq without first setting up a stable and responsible government there would result in a bloodbath beside which the massacre of the Shi'ites and the gassing of the Kurds by Saddam would be a pale moonlit shadow. Therefore we must persist until victory.

Will withdrawal bring worldpeace closer? No. However, will continued war in Iraq do any better in that respect? This war has made the world more divided than it has ever been since the end of the Cold War. There are more people hating the United States than ever on this planet. Al Quaida was/is not based in Iraq and will not be destroyed there. America is fighting enemies now it didn't have to fight before. Every day the fighting continues is just another day of bloodshed, of more potential horror for the future.
For this, I would be in favour of an immediate withdrawal. However, I agree that doing so would undoubtedly push Iraq into a full civil war with many, many casualties. Taking this into consideration, I think America should bring in the UN as soon as possible and let the UN organise general elections. After those elections, America should withdraw, to be replaced by peacekeepers, preferrably from muslim countriesor nations that so far have remained neutral in this conflict. Hopefully they will be able to give a new governement the time they need to build up something solid. Now don't get me wrong, I am not deluded enough to think this plan is without flaws, I actually think it could very well fail. However, I see no more viable solution. What I do know is that the presence of American soldiers at this moment only fuels the conflict and will remain to do so, thanks to disasterous PR in the last couple of weeks.

The only exit from war's inhumanity is through the doorway of victory.

There is another exit; defeat. Which is of course the opponents victory, so I guess this statement is completely right, if not exactly helpfull.

vernmeister2u

on May 13, 2004

As for war, when has war EVER (name one) been rational?

That depends upon which side of the war you are on. There are at least two combatants (or two sides) in each war. The side that responds to force used against them is rationally waging war. I use the term responds in the objectivist sense of the word which addresses the initiation of force or threat, and the response to force or threat.

Evil and wrongdoing is only a perception and perspective.

I strongly disagree. There is a reality outside of your mind that is knowable. You are given senses and volitional ability to distingiush that reality through facts. The fact that people don't know all the facts, choose not to learn all the facts, or allow emotions to cloud the facts, doesn't change that external reality. Perception or perspective does not change that reality. If you doubt me, try to perceive that you have a million dollars in your hand. If you can make it instantly appear by the sheer will of your mind, I'll believe you then. The fact that people act on the way they perceive things does not necessarily justify the action. Whoever said "Perception is reality" did man a great disservice and they were probably trying to dupe someone.

VES

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