namaarie said:
Satori,
I largely have faith in our armed forces. In the people, I mean. I think that they really want to do the right thing.
And I know that these terrorist bastids want to do evil.
I've got to watch how I say this...I'm not trying to stir the pot, but I am trying to stimulate discussion.
You're right to have faith in your armed services. We have faith in the taxpayers. For those of us who were around in the Clinton era and before, we're really enjoying this shift in public perception. (That remark is in no way aimed toward you.) It's a nice time to be active. I distinctly recall flying home in 10/01 in my dress whites (I thought of it as a show of force, but really it was because my beloved grandmother gets a big kick out of seeing me in uniform and I'd promised her that I would arrive this way) and getting free drinks - and a lot of "Thank you's" - from all ten people on that 747 with me. Having these people that I've never met coming up and shaking my hand and giving me heartfelt thanks, is the most touching thing that I've ever experienced during my life. I still get "Thank you's" today. I still appreciate them. Not everyone thinks of me like that today. They don't need to. I remember how they thought of me back then.
Understand, though, that the terrorist bastids don't believe that what they're doing is evil. They believe in their cause as well. They refuse to "fight like a man" because they lack the means to "fight like a man." They fight like a cheating bastid instead, and don't be too hard on them; were the roles reversed, you and I would be fighting against them like cheating bastids and sleeping soundly at night for doing so.
The more the various factions in the world fight, the more deeply ingrained our distrust and disdain of one another will be. If we - and they - don't want another fourty years of this, we're going to have to figure out some sort of middle ground. It's very easy (and sometimes accurate) to point fingers at the other side and call them savages, but they have some legitimate gripes about the way we do business as well...they just have a different way of, erm, expressing their dissatisfaction. (Not to make light of some of these deeds, but that's the way they look at it.) I have no doubts that my side of the conflict will win; not only do we have the equipment and the will, but we have the adaptability and the capacity to think outside the box. In short, my chosen side in this has every strength of the other side, plus a whole lot more, minus the weaknesses. I know that my side will win. I'd rather that we struck an equitable truce next year, rather than fighting about it for the rest of my natural life. I believe (correctly or incorrectly, this is up to the reader) that my side is making an effort to meet the other side halfway. I hope they accept it. I - and others like me - don't hold grudges easily. I hope there are others like this on the other side.
There's no easy answer to this, but someone - obviously smarter than me - is going to have to figure this out sooner or later. Sooner is definitely better. I'm a big, ugly bastid from peasant stock that's bred to do jobs most folks don't want to do.
I'm built for this, it's cool, life goes on. I'd hate to see others get drawn up in this. Humping crates of ammo sucks.
Like I said, it's complicated and I'm a simple man. I can think of many good reasons to kill people but religion is never one of them. I get depressed when a war becomes one of religion, to one side, the other, or both. There really are better things to fight over, as callous as that sounds.
One of my favorite movies of all time is "Das Boot." I like it because I used to be a submariner; I like it because I'm of German ancestry; however, neither of these reasons are why I really like it. My primary reason to like it is because of just how good a job it does of getting one - an American, at the very least - to root for the "bad guy." He is a human being...even if he may not act like one at certain times in certain circumstances, and there are people that will miss him when he's gone, if not us.
It was intended as an antiwar movie. I think it accomplishes that very well. That, maybe ironically, is not one of the things I like it for. Wars have been fought since mankind remembers. Wars must be fought and will continue to be fought. That's fine. We must always - always - ensure that they are fought for the right reasons and only the right reasons, bearing in mind that whenever a war is fought, people - usually a lot of them - will die. To do anything else is criminal. There is a place for criminals in this world, but I don't want to be there.
