Outside Insight

When the Iraq war started I remember thinking that all those young men and women (but especially the men being send to the war zone) were heading to what I consider is the end of their life with souls. It seems to me soldiers have to get themselves rid of any fear to be functional in a war zone. We can be assured that for those who don’t separate their regular persona from their new war persona the psychological trauma is the greatest.
It seems obvious to me that these men would need to act as if they were playing video games. They need to act as if life (another’s life) is not a big deal. They need to be able to kill and that is just one horrible thing to prepare for. It doesn’t matter if it is for self-defense - once you have taken a soul you have lost yours too and killing for any reason is not difficult after that. They then graduate to surviving purely on animal instinct…and soon enough regressing to animal nature. So tell me who is policing these fear-stripped men’s actions? Other fear-stripped men? Sounds like hell!
No human should have to kill another. Our government has failed our young people for this reason.

How can anyone expect that wars can be fought in organized or predictable or sane or even humanitarian ways and much less with any laws in mind? How does anyone expect justice or human rights to exist in a war zone? It’s a bit of an oxymoron. How do we expect our soldiers - the government’s killing machines - to know how to separate reality from war?!
I think it is an unreasonable expectation and that is the reason why wars can not make us a better planet or a better country. It depletes our morale, our health, love, life, our communities, their communities, cultures, mother earth and our future.

See veterans testimnony here: Iraq Veterans Against the War