Tag Archives: military industrial complex

….Iraq murders reveal the warping power of conformity and dehumanization.
by Rosa Brooks, who is a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, is an interesting look into the issue of Americans being “good people”.

She begins
Are Americans good people?
After Vietnam — after My Lai, after the free-fire zones — many Americans were no longer sure.
After Haditha, the same question is again beginning to haunt us. We’re supposed to be a virtuous nation; our troops are supposed to be the good guys. If it turns out that Marines murdered 24 civilians, including children and infants, how could that have happened?

She addresses the “bad apple theory” and provides a look at these “key factors” leading to good people doing terrible things, substantiated by examples in far past and recent history:

Sarandon Joins Vigil Against Iraq War

Susan Sarandon and Cindy Sheehan joined in a vigil at the White House over this Mother’s Day weekend, with letters to deliver to Laura Bush, uring her to pursuade her husband to personally notify mothers whose children have died while serving in Iraq.

The protest was organized by CodePink Women for Peace.

Cost of the War in Iraq – entire U.S.
Cost of the War in Iraq – See the cost in your community (drop down menu)
Iraq Body Count

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of George W. Bush landing in a jet on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast where, in a speech to the nation, he declared major combat in Iraq over. The banner his staff posted on the ship read “Mission Accomplished.”:

The irony is that since then approximately 2400 Americans and more than 30,000 Iraqis have lost their lives, in addition to the tens of thousand of others injured in the conflict.

Iraq Body Count
Cost of War

I know someone who has a friend working for the U.S. military in Iraq. I told her I would share on my blog some of the words the friend of my friend’s has written. I think they speak for themselves – I don’t need to provide my commentary. There are more comments from soldiers at: Fight to Survive

Day 1:
It was good to hear from you. I haven’t written anything on myspace for awhile because I just odon’t have the motivation or energy to do it. I”ve about hit rock bottom and am counting the days until I get to come back.

Day 2:
I think it’s great when people over here speak out for what they believe. They always give us ample warnings to watch our mouths and opinions when reporters or generals, or anyone important for that matter comes around. Apparently Condoleeze Rice was here last month, they didn’t bring her around any place like our barracks, they are so shitty. They have also started cracking down on us for our Myspace websites, they found out a lot of guys had them, that’s why I took my old blogs off (it was probably time to anyway) but it’s all censorship, no freedoms for the “liberators”. To hell with this, I am pretty upset about he current state of the world, but I know it’s out of my control, as well as the majority of the other people who know/care. I can’t wait untikl I can get out of the military for good, they have so many tricks like stop-loss and other BS though.

Day 3:
I am so frustrated and infuriated at all this political BS, especially if we start having problems with Iran, although I don’t think we will. Maybe I will move out of the U.S., become an ex-patriot like Hemmingway did, although I have nowhere near the literary sense that he did. I’m shocked and amazed at the amount of people over here who don’t see anything wrong with the Bush administration, and that’s the ones who can tell the difference between Republicans and Democrats. To hell with it, I served my time and I will never come back over here, under any circumstances. I am just too morally opposed to this BS. Anyway, it’s only two months so I will put up with it.