My Lai, You Lie, We All Lie In The End

Jed Babbin at Real Clear Politics suggests Haditha is about to overwhelm American politics:

The accelerating media feeding frenzy over the alleged killings of twenty-four Iraqi civilians in Haditha by US Marines last November is about to overwhelm American politics.

I'm not so sure and would point back to this from last night via Dotty Lynch at CBS.

Is that the reason for the lack of protest? Is it because so few Americans are personally impacted that the outcry isn't louder?

People at CBS News were touched personally and deeply by the Iraq war on Monday. But must it take a direct a hit for all Americans to get engaged and demand a serious re-examination from those in power whose policies have caused so much bloodshed and damaged America's reputation around the globe?

And now some fighting has erupted, even among fellow bloggers on the right. I believe it's because all of our alleged realities are either being seemingly tested, or affirmed, depending upon ones view.

I emphasize alleged realities because we lie to ourselves about reality everyday - and in more ways than we can count. We walk around on a planet with molten lava at its core and we call it solid Earth. If it stopped spinning this instant, every reality we know would be less than some fly dropping racing to nowhere through the darkness of space. But most of us manage to cobble out meaning through the reality we construct, be it based upon a concept of God, or not.

We can't say in reality any protests are about the loss of human life - not when as I write this hundreds have died in East Timor, over 6,000 dead from an earthquake in Indonesia - and neither those or dozens of other stories like them are getting a fraction of the ink. No, this is all about a certain pertinent reality we've constructed for ourselves.

Some will say this proves the reality that America is an evil, imperialistic military power hell bent on unbridled conquest. I'd counter, if so, then more than 24 people will die in the heat of the Arizona desert this summer just for the slim chance of being part of a reality you unfortunately find so bad.

Others will say this proves the reality of a malicious media determined to run America down at every turn, no matter what the cost. I'd counter that, at least in this case, it was that media, via Time, which could prove to be the main, if not the only reason justice might be served in this case.

For now, projecting any of our individual realities onto those involved is not in any way altruistic. It's purely self-serving at this point. And it certainly doesn't serve the 20 or so dead in Haditha, or some scant few of tens of thousands of  Marines.

Projecting one's political reality on anyone involved right now because you are troubled by recent news is no more noble than is projecting it onto the 3,000 people who died on 9/11, or the over 2,000 fighting men and women already lost in this war without your ever having heard their voice.

What victims or alleged criminals might exist as regards Haditha will have their day to be heard. And they'll be heard within the structured surety that is our concept of law; possibly the only concept which makes us all one in the end. And it doesn't get anymore real than that.

I believe we all need to check our personal politics at the door and let this one play out. Where I differ from Jed Babbin is that I believe the majority of Americans are going to do just that.

Also Haditha: Who, What, When, Where, Why at the Democracy Project.

Comments

[Observer]

"I emphasize alleged realities because we lie to ourselves about reality everyday "

Attaboy. You have taken the first step....

"We walk around on a planet with molten lava at its core..."

Bzzzt! The Earth's core is solid nickel-iron.

"Some will say this proves the reality that America is an evil, imperialistic military power hell bent on unbridled conquest."

Could you point to one source claiming this?

[Terry Gain]

99.9% of American soldiers discharge their difficult and saintly duties honourably - risking their lives to help Iraqis defeat those evil thugs who would deny them freedom. This, however, isn't good enough.

A handful whose lives were in peril react the way human beings sometimes react when under unimaginable pressure. Now the wrath of leftist righteousness and fanaticism will descend upon those responsible for sending the soldiers on their mission and the world will sit in clueless Judgement of all of America.

And all of America will suffer- even those all knowing, and sure of themselves, leftist critics though they are too blinkered to see what they will have wrought: for the enemy is not similarly conflicted.

[John]

Since the US army is essentially a reflection of civil society, it means it has a few psycopaths in its ranks. Hence Haditha and perhaps several more incidents according to unfolding news were inevitably going to happen. These are the unintended consequences of the decision to invade Iraq in the first place and the bungled execution of it. That's why the whole enterprise is counterproductive in the war on terrorism, it's creating more terrorists than we are removing. Making excuses for what are basically atrocities, ask yourself what you would be saying if these little girls were your sisters, is totally irrelvant to the fact that we are handing Bin Laden a gift with every one of these actions. I also find it hard to believe that the relations of these people and indeed the relations of the entire approximately 40,000 Iraqis who have been killed since this started have not become dedicated haters of the USA. This is what we have wrought by an enterprise that was wholly misconceived from the start and has advanced the interests of only Iran, for whom we have eliminated an enemy and made the pr-eminent power in the region, and Bin Laden who we have provided with millions of recruits and sympathizers. Meanwhile the US is paralysed strategically and diplomatically a fact of which the Russians, Chinese and leftists in South America are taking full advantage. It's a tragedy on just about every level you can think of. The problem is quite a few people still won't come to terms with reality.

[jaybo]

I am beginning to wonder if maybe we aren't making the same mistake that we once made in Vietnam.

(bare with me)

In Vietnam, we weren't allowed to attack the enemy's sources of supply. In Iraq we are currently making the same mistake.

We all know who is supplying the technology and components to make these IEDs that currently are being used to maim and kill our troops. Why aren't we attacking the supply lines or giving an ultimatum to the states that are known to supply them?

Our troops have to "jump through hoops" when engaging the enemy, relying on politicians to define the rules of engagement; just like Vietnam.

We would see a faster conclusion to this particular battle in the war on terror if the troops were allowed to try to win.

Maybe what we are beginning to see now is frustration that is generated by the above policy.

[Terry Gain]

John

Your argument does not hold water. Many more lives have been saved by the intervention in Iraq than have been killed by the terrorists. The numbers of innocents inadvertenty killed by the U.S. is very small.

America is however losing the propaganda battle or people like you would be embarrassed to spout such nonsense.

[Bill Robertson]

Note that the Haditha families won't allow the bodies to be examined. I say the bodies get examined or their are no charges. End of story! I give the Iraqi's word nothing. I don't condone murder but there must be proof beyond reasonable doubt. Let's face it, you can bet the household men and women AKA the 'victims' watched the IED being placed and may have even taken part. The US cannot fight and win wars with our political system. Accordingly the military should only be used as a last resort, and when they are used laws of war are just B.S. to try and make it all palatable and noble and we need to drop that thought. Talk about illusion. War is about killing people to get to the desired end-state. It's about winning no matter what and screw the other side.

[A.G. Gagnon]

Bill,
War is war, right? Civilian casualties tend to occur, correct? Bill, the fact that some U.S. soldiers couldn't control thier actions and killed innocent civilians is a horrible consequence of war, and the fact that you "give the Iraqi's word nothing" permeates an eery, coldhearted outlook. Although U.S. military strategy firmly aligns with a war of annihilation, and destroying the enemy is the primary objective, this should not extract attention from the inhumanity of such actions that occur in these settings. Merely because the consequences are assumed commonplace, human sympathy to such consequences should never disappear; thus leading us to the attention on the issue over the past week. And Bill, war is a last resort. Although America has the strongest military ever in the world, it also tends to follow the highest marker of democracy. Freedoms, liberty, and democracy (liberal-internationalism) is part of U.S. exceptionalism, however, wars are never desired. Ironically, the more the U.S. spreads the cause of democracy, the more militaristic it has become, although this is rarely the intention of any administration. (see Jefferson and Wilson, for previous examples)