Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Our government, God bless them, thinks we are morons.

Note: If you click on the title of this entry, you'll be take to the article that sparked this entry.

"One of the biggest blows to human rights has been the attempt of Western democratic states to roll back some fundamental principles of human rights — like the prohibition of torture," Khan told The Associated Press, speaking before the launch of her organization's annual report on the global state of human rights.

Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, recently made these scathing remarks about the United States and our conduct in the war on terror. Mind you, we're novices when it comes to torture, compared to say, the Iraqis just to name one. But you see, groups like Amnesty International are like padlocks. They exist to keep honest people honest. The dishonest pay them no mind.

"The U.S. administration's double speak has been breathtakingly shameless," the report said. "It is unrepentant about the global web of abuse it has spun in the name of counter terrorism."

I guess AI doesn't feel the end justifies the means. Mind you, our 'torture' of prisoners, at least as Combat News Network reports it, does not end up with bodies floating up the Euphrates River.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070523/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_body_found I'm not so naive, and having been part of the machine myself, that I don't know we're sure to have killed a few ourselves. View the movie 'Rules of Engagement' for a glimpse.

"If we focus on the U.S. it's because we believe that the U.S. is a country whose enormous influence and power has to be used constructively," she said. "When countries like the U.S. are seen to undermine or ignore human rights, it sends a very powerful message to others."
Credit: RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer , Yahoo News

Is she trying to say that if we use creative and innovative ways to extract intel, other groups will torture people ? Apparently she is naive. The enemy is against our methods and everything about our way of life. They have been fighting in that region for hundreds of years, is she saying that if we follow the rules they will too ? Next she'll expect the insurgents to fight a fixed piece battle, with meeting engagements rather than hit and run ambush tactics.
I have bad news for her and her organization. As a soldier, and from my viewpoint of fighting a stronger opponent, the insurgents are fighting as they need to. Were I in their shoes, given the objectives they wish to gain, I would be doing no less. Were she to ask other soldiers from all other countries, I'm sure she would get the same answers. But just as they have to fight the way they do, so do we have to fight the way we do. They have restrictions due to manpower and logistics. We have restrictions due to politics and the western ethic. The most she can expect to produce is more insane restrictions on the US fighting man, more Dilbert-esque managerial decisions by the upper echelon as dictated to them by the armchair quarterbacks in DC.
I have a buddy over there right now. (Yo Luis) He's assigned to a Water Purification Unit. The unit still has to do patrols, everyone is an Infantryman as the saying goes. The problem you got is the rulings as passed down by their chain of command. These guys have to go through a couple of hours of searches (in the US that would be unlawful search and seizure) before and after each patrol to make sure they don't have electronic devices such as cel phones and mp3 players and to make sure they don't steal from the locals.
So what command is telling them is this: We don't think you're smart enough to survive on a combat patrol, we haven't trained you not to do stupid things that common sense would tell you not to do. Then they send them out on a patrol with death lurking in every garbage pile. Then they tell them that the command staff and people of the United States think they are dishonest thieves ! I'm told these searches last longer than the actual patrol.
We're not playing by the rules, MS. Khan ? On the contrary, we are suffering the same disease that has plagued the US Military since the War For Southern Independence (thats the Civil War for you Yankees, no offense) We are playing by more rules than logic dictates ! And those rules are being laid down by people who have no earthly idea what it takes to fight a war. People like you. The dead from Vietnam must be rolling over in their graves.
Should we be fighting the war ? That's up to people such as the UN and yourself. How we fight the war is up to the soldiers on the ground. If you care at all about them, leave it to them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From my point of view. This enemy has proven time and time again that they are absolutely committed to killing us or seeing us subjugated to their version of Islam. I have not seen our world leaders, and many of our own politicians demonstrate the same resolve to defending us from this enemy. There was a reason a pitiful upstart colony defeated a major superpower, and if we don't learn from that, this enemy will not be defeated.

Chicken McFuggits said...

Exactly. Take the Vietnamese for example. They had the motivation and the 'By any means necessary' viewpoint. They believed in what they were doing. We still worry about what others will think. A certain morality is good, but not so much that the Middle East becomes a meat grinder for US troops.