When the war becomes personal
I warned my readers early on that I might rage a little bit about the war(s), and here it comes. Even if you think opposing the war(s) is unAmerican, please read on and reply. And, Liz, you probably don't want to.
My nephew originally signed up with the army as a chaplain's assistant. He felt it was God's work and God's plan for him to serve the spiritual needs of soldiers in a war zone. Unfortunately, he was later informed that the US Army is at 108% of their quota for chaplain assistants, so he is now working as a combat engineer. His job is to be the lookout for improvised explosive devises, IEDs, while he and his crew are out on patrols.
Duing last year's tour in Iraq, he saw all the IEDs in their path and kept himself and his crew safe; his base was regularly under mortar attack, but he was never injured.
But this year he's in Afghanistan. Remember Afghanistan? The war we're fighting for a reason. The country that served as a base for Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban. Remember we went there because of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? Remember we had support from our allies?
Unfortunately, the Bush Administration soon lost interest, and against the better judgement of our allies, focused military efforts and personnel in Iraq. The weapons of mass destruction rationalization is now known to be a PR ploy, as is the BS of Saddam Hussein's participation in 9/11. But thousands of American soldiers have died in Iraq, our allies have abandoned us in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there is no end in sight.
As tragic as this war is for America, the "liberated" Iraqis have suffered the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, and their infrastructure is now almost totally nonexistent. I agree with the Bush administration only in their assertion that Saddam was a barbaric psychopath. But he certainly wasn't the only psychopath in a leadership position on this planet, and it could be argued that there were and are many who are worse and causing greater suffering for their people. This was not a humanitarian war.
This past week my nephew didn't site the IED in his path. Men with him were badly injured, perhaps mortally; miraculously, 120-pound Jimmy wasn't physically injured. There isn't much he can say about the incident on Army phones or computers, but we do know that he phoned in the helicoptor and performed emergency first aid until they came. I am tremendously proud of him for this.
My nephew was a gentle young man who joined the Army to serve God and country. But war changes people; he told his father the other day that he wants to kill all the Afghans and let God sort them out.
The number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan surpassed those killed in Iraq in the past month.
Pray for peace and wisdom.