I was having a discussion with an acquaintance of mine. She asked me if I had seen the coverage of the most recently released military investigation regarding Haditha in Iraq. I told her I had. She then started talking about unjust wars, psychopaths, massacre's, Bush, etc.
In this morning's Washington Post, Major Peter Kilner of the US Army describes a very real problem in this country today. There is one group of people who are looking for any excuse to show that this is an illicit war and everything about it is wrong, including the behavior of our troops. There is another group of people who look to excuse all soldiers behavior because they are our soldiers. Major Kilner then went on to say that neither group is correct. Some soldiers are not bad people, they are just given poor leadership.
Although I have never been in battle, I would presume that being shot at and returning fire can tweak your mind a little. It is at this time that seasoned officers and Non-commissioned officers must guide younger, more inexperienced soldiers to do the right thing.
I couldn't agree more. Further, my response to my acquaintance was that 1) war is hell, and 2) before believing every claim of atrocity by Iraqis and other foreigners living in Iraq, allow an investigation to take place. If these troops are guilty, they will be tried, convicted and sentenced, just as if they had committed crimes in civil society.
The truth of the matter, however, is that atrocities happen in every war. They happened in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the Punic Wars, the Crusades. Atrocities are not a function of what makes a war "just." Only history can make that determination.
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