In Memoriam
By Ian Welsh Monday May 25, 2009 6:00pm
[Ed. note: Please welcome to the C&L team our old friend Ian Welsh, whose work from the Agonist and FDL many of you many know. Ian will be writing whatever he chooses, but that usually means economics and international politics.]
It's Memorial Day. I gather for many it's just another long weekend, but I know that for many it's what Remembrance Day is for Canadians like myself: a day to remember those who have died in war. I won't say "died to protect our freedom" or any such trite BS, because with few exceptions, most wars had nothing to do with protecting anyone's freedom, but they did die, nonetheless, for us.
Their blood is on our hands, sticky and wet, and it will never dry. Why?
Because we live in democracies. Because we elected the leaders who sent them to war. Whether you think those wars are justified, or not, at the end of the day, we bear the collective guilt of their deaths. They died due to the decisions we made, the society we live in.
Oh, we can say "I did everything I could to oppose the war", whether that's Iraq or Vietnam, or some other war. But even if that's true, well, you failed, didn't you? (Didn't I?) And so off went the young men and women, and they died, or they were maimed, or their brain case got knocked around and they came back shaking, and they wake up screaming at night, and they can't control their emotions and they'll never be the same again.
It's one of the ironies of democracy that we're all responsible, collectively, and yet each of us, individually, can say "but not me, I voted against him" or "I protested against that policy". And because it's true, each of us can feel, in the end, that the deaths and suffering caused by our society, whether in war, or through a horrific medical system, or through abuses in the penal system, aren't our fault.
But is it true? Or is it true instead, that we failed, that we support the system with both our consent and our tax dollars, and that we are therefor complicit in what it does?
I don't know. But I do know this, on this Memorial day, even if it's not a Canadian holiday, I'm thinking of those who died, both soldiers and civilian.
And at the very least, I know I failed.
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So to honor our dead on this day of remembrance, I made a simple youtube video calling out Dick Cheney as "America's Greatest Coward"
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC5LrTxKLXM&fm...
The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne , France . A total of 2,289 of our military dead.
The American Cemetery at Ardennes , Belgium . A total of 5,329 of our military dead.
The American Cemetery at Brittany, France . A total of 4,410 of our military dead.
Brookwood , England American Cemetery. A total of 468 of our military dead.
Cambridge , England . 3,812 of our military dead.
Epinal , France American Cemetery. A total of 5,525 of our military dead.
Flanders Field , Belgium . A total of 368 of our military dead.
Florence , Italy . A total of 4,402 of our military dead.
Henri-Chapelle , Belgium . A total of 7,992 of our military dead.
Lorraine , France . A total of 10,489 of our military dead.
Luxembourg , Luxembourg . A total of 5,076 of our military dead.
Meuse-Argonne. A total of 14,246 of our military dead.
I wish I could give everyone the link to show the pictures of all these cemeteries, but my friend didn't send it to me. This was a shocking revelation to me to see all our American soldiers graves all over the world.
Who was it who said, "We MUST put an end to war.....or WAR will put an end to US."???
>/<
I don't think any one individual can say they have failed when it is the evolution of man that brings about wars. Collectively we're still evolving. None of us will ever know if war eventually is selected out, or, if we select ourselves out.
My two cents.
But can you take Darwinian theory to phenomena that have widespread effects like civilian casualties? Maybe our whole species is being "selected out".
Do we have the power to select ourselves out or is it beyond our grasp? Either way, is it still natural selection?
'Civilian casualties' implies a concerted effort by one group to extinguish another group. What would one call casualties that result from a tsumani? Or disease? The term 'natural disaster' has always bugged me - it's only a disaster from our perspective.
So, we can proceed from the knowledge that the human animal can wipe out large parts of itself as can certain natural phenomena. Tsumanis don't know animal from vegetable, it has no conscience. WE do have conscience and are capable of the same destruction and in fact engage in such destruction.
Why?
No real answers here, just some thoughts and questions.
An amazing piece...says so much that is truth.
Thank you.
If only more people were even thinking about taking responsibility for their fellow humans, the world could very well be a much better place.
My son sent me an email today, thanking me for going to war for this country in Vietnam. It took guts. It was about my devotion to my country. But it was also a bit of a hard thought to swallow when you think that of the 59,000 that died in that awful, unjust and ridiculous war....nothing was accomplished. We weren't "protecting freedom and democracy"..whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.
No..we were there because of treaties and corporate greed. The government I nearly died for didn't give a rat's ass about me or my comrads. We were simply cogs in the big wheel.
Men and women have always gone off to war. Sometimes to protect the homeland, sometimes to take someone else's. I have some real hard times in my mind trying to think just what I went to war for. I saw good friends die thousands of miles for home...for what? Young men, who were not even through the doorway of life. Such a crying shame.
And now, we are doing it again. Because of corporate greed and a government that has it's pride and head up it's ass once again.
Yes...I salute those that heard the call and put their country first. But I have to wonder...why? What did we really accomplish. So different from those who went to war during WWII. They at least died for protecting their country. The rest of us...we'll have to sort it out I guess.
.....why we must strive to make our leaders understand that war is not a good thing. War solves nothing. War is criminal. War is wasteful. War is not glorious. It kills and maims and sends hollow shells home to their families to try to deal with the horrible things they said and did in the war zone. The military hands them a gun, teaches them to kill, and then seems surprised when they come back broken in mind and body and kill a family member, or go on a shooting spree, or commit suicide. What do we expect? Since WWII, there has not been a just war, and the Iraqi "war" was the most egregious one of all.....supported with lies for the sole purpose of making a buck and gaining "political capital". The war criminals and war profiteers of the Bush Administration may never see judgement day on this earth, but if there is a Hell, we can be certain they will be there, in the 9th circle of Hell for all eternity.
Good to see you.
Wish I'd listened to you.....
Thanks for the words on this Memorial day.
We do fail. The real warrior fight for things that most of us don't understand. There are all kinds of warriors. My son and my husband are two.
Today my son is in the Anbar Province in Iraq. I e-mailed him this morning and he was safe. He is in Public Affairs and is in charge of a division of media. He is not a large man, he is barely a man at all in age. He is 23.
He claims he is 5 feet 6 inches, but I know he is less..around 5 feet 4 inches. He weighs about 135 pounds, without his body armour, web gear, uniform and boots.
At the age of 17 he came to his step-father and I and told us he was entering the military. We could sign for him to go on the early enlistment program, or he would quit school when he turned 18 in March and enlist full time.
He thought, in his youthful idealism, that he could join the Army and get in an MOS that would make the world a better place. His Step-father ,(a veteran of the VietNam war, who was opposed to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan) and I tried desperately to talk him out of it. We threatened him, we cajoled him, we begged him. We did not agree with this war. He thought he could make a difference.
He has been to Iraq twice since 1986. He has made rank and is a Sargent. He is not sure that he has made a difference in the world, but he has made a huge difference in our lives.
The macro arguments, and the micro arguments are the same. Some people understand the horrible truths of war. There are many. Other people do not understand that there is no glory, only distruction and pain, or you can not convince them their way may be in error. You will not change everyone.
Our son went to war because he really thought he could do something that might make a difference in a positive way. He may yet make a positive difference, or he may not. That part of the story is yet to be determined. (and we are still hoping for a sooner ending than a later one.)
Efforts for peace are never in vain. Efforts for peace are so that those who are greedy and vanglorious and foolish will know that they are opposed. They need to know that although they may wage war and send our sons and daughters, they do not get to do it because it is their "right".
They do not get to decide why we are going, because every warrior is free to have his own reason. WE...those who oppose them..are not only fighting for peace, but to remind them, that they will not get their way. There is a price for them to pay for sending our warrior off to unjust wars.
Eventually our voices will reach ears that will listen, and our arguments will make sense to those who do not know better, and the tide will turn for a time, and ONE war will fall to the power of peace.
Even though there has never been peace on earth, and probably never will be, the voices that cry for peace are never in vain.
We make one section of the world safer, for just a while, just long enough for one generation to forget how horrible war is, because they have not seen it.
I'm sorry if you don't agree, but the way I see it, the job of the dissenter is to show that there is dissent. It is wonderful to have high ideals and aspirations. Peace on earth would be great and is something I'd love to see in my lifetime.
I'm a realist, and I believe that there are really evil and crappy people out there. Our job, as peaceful people, is to remind them of what they are;evil, crappy people. If we get some peace in the process..that's a bonus. If they laugh and us and scoff..who cares.
Remember that the tide ALWAYS turns.
I just finished James Carroll's "House of War;" in it he documents the militarization of this country since the second world war, a grim tale but he ends with a challenge and the hope that we can overcome our shared predicament and leave war behind us, much as we have left slavery behind us. I think that the first step is for us to begin to "live in truth" and call things by their real names.
The more participatory our governance becomes, the more responsibility lies upon us all.
Thanks for the excellent post.
And thanks for the economics education you've been providing me over at FDL these last many months!
It's always nice to see a fellow Canuck!
yes it's our fault , we the people are reponsible , we should not allow madmen and lunatics , politicians , the bubble people , to use our military and our tax dollars to invade countries and occupy them for no just reason and to lie and deceive us and get away with it and no one should volunteer to serve bastards like Bush / Cheney and do their dirty work for them . But we the people in this country are an apathetic unprincipled head in the sand bunch these days and fools still blindly volunteer to "serve" , not us , not our country but corrupt and evil politicians and corrupt governments . Never ever trust that government or politicians are doing the right thing and are being truthful ! To US World war vets and those of our allies , I salute and honor you .
I agree with Ian that we have failed. Most times when lists of casualties are shown anywhere, I say, "Father, forgive us. These were your gifts to us, these people brave and strong who will no longer walk the earth, also your gift to us. Help us to do better, to love one another and to get along." We are evolving, but so far we have failed in our attempts to live without armed conflict, if in fact, we have really attempted that at all.
This isn't "our" war, Ian.
These wars belong to those who end up supporting war mongers like Obama who lied to your gullible asses and you fell for it. You people own this for not standing up and making sure Obama did what he said he would do.
This is no longer Bush's war, it is the Obama Maniacs' war now.
Sorry, the only "our" I will take up is the fact that "our" citizenry is a gullible bunch of fools.
No - I'm sorry, but I reject your implicit argument that we should spend Memorial Day wallowing in guilt, castigating ourselves for failure, and declaring all of our collective anti-war effort to have been in vain.
I'm sorry, but that smacks of the same brand of right-wing thinking that declares that we can't pull our troops out of the warzone until the "mission" is "complete" or else we dishonor them and cause them to have died in vain.
No, no, no! To treat "winning" as the only end that can validate effort and sacrifice is one of the most vile and disgusting dishonors we can impose on our troops _or_ ourselves.
Robert E. Lee (like what he fought for or not, he was a man who acted from his heart) once said, "Duty, then, is the most sublime word in the English language. A man should seek to do his duty in all things. He can never do more. He should never seek to do less."
There is something inherently noble in answering the call of duty, and making any kind of sacrifice in the line of duty. To me, the act of remembering that our fallen troops, above all else, did their duty, is the highest honor I can possibly offer to them. Anything on top of that is pretty ribbons and fluff.
Why they were sent to war does matter, yes, but only for judging the politicians who made those decisions - by their peers and by their makers. Those motives, however pure or corrupt, do not in any way diminish the honor owed to those who did their duty.
But I want to be clear that I believe honor is also owed to people who do their duty with the proverbial pen rather the sword. People who make sacrifices in the fight to hold politicians accountable and to secure social progress for people they don't even know.
Those people are answering the call of duty too, and to declare that their efforts and sacrifices are abject "failures" just because they don't always succeed is just as disgusting and repulsive as a right-winger declaring them to be unpatriotic and un-American. The only way we all fail is if we all give up and stop doing our duty.
I know it's not what you meant to say or probably believe, but I feel you're dishonoring those who have done their duty, both on and off the battlefield, by declaring that winning is the only thing that matters.
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