Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
-- George Santayana, in The Life of Reason, Volume I, 1905
All over the news this week is the word that the U.S. is being accused of intentionally targeting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena’s convoy as it rolled towards Baghdad International Airport, the incident that resulted in the death of Nicola Calipari, now immortalized as an Italian hero.
-- George Santayana, in The Life of Reason, Volume I, 1905
All over the news this week is the word that the U.S. is being accused of intentionally targeting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena’s convoy as it rolled towards Baghdad International Airport, the incident that resulted in the death of Nicola Calipari, now immortalized as an Italian hero.
Intentionally targeting a freed hostage. The United States has called the accusation “absurd.” I don’t know if “absurd” is the right word, but I’m not sure they make one to describe how completely far out in left field that is.
Although you won’t find this splashed around as prevalently as the stories of the Italian negotiator’s funeral (the wailing, the accusations, the demands for explanation - take a look at the news post from today for Calipari and Sgrena), the U.S. has stated that the convoy failed to notify U.S. troops that it was coming. An important detail. It was nighttime. U.S. troops on that road have suffered numerous casualties. They are under orders to shoot any cars coming at them that do so after curfew, without a known reason to be on that road. They followed those orders.
And let’s take a look at Ms. Sgrena for just a moment. I was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt initially, figuring that it was just the knee-jerk reaction of someone who’d undergone a terrible ordeal. After all, she’d been held hostage for days, threatened with impending murder, etc., and then her trip after being freed ended in the death of her rescuer. Who wouldn’t be rattled? But there are a few other details that don’t appear to be as prominent in the public eye that warrant a good hard look.
"My name is Giuliana Sgrena. For my whole life, I have fought and written on behalf of the weakest. I know the suffering of the Iraqi people." This was part of the voiceover on the tape her captors released. Her father entreated her captors to free her, citing that she hated the war. Ms. Sgrena wrote for the Communist newspaper Il Manifesto. She did, indeed, hate the war. And U.S. troops. She reported on house raids, citing the plight of the poor people who our troops barged in on to search for weapons – the same weapons maiming and killing troops, as well as innocent Iraqi citizens, nearly every day.
So does this provide a motive for an intentional attack by U.S. troops? Give me a break. You’ve seen the mainstream media at work – if our troops intentionally targeted every journalist that said something negative about them, how would they ever get anything else done??? And while we’re on the subject, if our guys were intentionally targeting her, how is it that she’s still alive? They’ve got to be better than that.
Although you won’t find this splashed around as prevalently as the stories of the Italian negotiator’s funeral (the wailing, the accusations, the demands for explanation - take a look at the news post from today for Calipari and Sgrena), the U.S. has stated that the convoy failed to notify U.S. troops that it was coming. An important detail. It was nighttime. U.S. troops on that road have suffered numerous casualties. They are under orders to shoot any cars coming at them that do so after curfew, without a known reason to be on that road. They followed those orders.
And let’s take a look at Ms. Sgrena for just a moment. I was inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt initially, figuring that it was just the knee-jerk reaction of someone who’d undergone a terrible ordeal. After all, she’d been held hostage for days, threatened with impending murder, etc., and then her trip after being freed ended in the death of her rescuer. Who wouldn’t be rattled? But there are a few other details that don’t appear to be as prominent in the public eye that warrant a good hard look.
"My name is Giuliana Sgrena. For my whole life, I have fought and written on behalf of the weakest. I know the suffering of the Iraqi people." This was part of the voiceover on the tape her captors released. Her father entreated her captors to free her, citing that she hated the war. Ms. Sgrena wrote for the Communist newspaper Il Manifesto. She did, indeed, hate the war. And U.S. troops. She reported on house raids, citing the plight of the poor people who our troops barged in on to search for weapons – the same weapons maiming and killing troops, as well as innocent Iraqi citizens, nearly every day.
So does this provide a motive for an intentional attack by U.S. troops? Give me a break. You’ve seen the mainstream media at work – if our troops intentionally targeted every journalist that said something negative about them, how would they ever get anything else done??? And while we’re on the subject, if our guys were intentionally targeting her, how is it that she’s still alive? They’ve got to be better than that.
What it does, in my mind, is provide evidence of a pervasive bias, an agenda. Ms. Sgrena has a tragic opportunity to take advantage of a great deal of publicity, and the unfortunate death of one man, to get on her platform and become the “Evita” of trashing U.S. troops.
Italy wants a sacrificial lamb for the incident on that treacherous Baghdad road. Fine. Find the idiot who failed to notify U.S. troops of their convoy, arriving past curfew, and there’s your sacrificial lamb. But keep away from our American heroes.
More disturbing to me than her statements and the collective Italian leap on the bandwagon is the lack of outcry by Americans. The reason I put that quote at the top of this post is that I’m noticing a distinct lack of reaction from the average Joe. Sure, talk show hosts are on it, as are bloggers (see BlackFive). But what about your basic, average, American citizen?
The media is fond of the far-too-often repeated comparison of the Viet Nam War and Iraq. If there is one similarity, it’s the media. Viet Nam marked the beginning of a marked cooling of the media’s perspective on the military, and a definite betrayal of the troops on the part of the American people. The troops were turned from heroes to villains.
And it can happen again. Viet Nam had Mai Lai, touted as a senseless massacre significantly before any legitimate investigation of the circumstances. We have Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Marines in Fallujah, and Lt. Pantano (see a story about him in today’s news posts - Murder or self-defense? N.C. Marine faces charge in Iraq killings); a wealth of opportunities to skewer the people defending our freedom. Yes, U.S. troops occasionally cross the line. They’re human. But they do a job that requires split-second decisions, constant alertness, and killing. I don’t want them second-guessing what they do. I want them home. For my money, it’s better to take a shot in a questionable situation. You don’t get to do it all over again if you don’t take the shot and should have.
And it’s about time we let the world know, as Americans, that we back our people. You don’t want to be shot by U.S. troops? Then don’t push the envelope in an area they patrol. Don’t drive down a road at night without telling them you’re coming when it’s common knowledge they’ve been given orders to fire on unknown vehicles. Don’t advance on an armed Marine when you’ve been given orders to stay where you are. You don’t want your house searched? Then take every opportunity to turn in terrorists so that the troops don’t have to come looking for them.
My loyalty lies with our troops. You want to blame someone for friendly-fire incidents? Blame the psychopathic dictator whose power hunger, efforts to amass weaponry, and outright, blatant defiance of the world led to our presence there in the first place! There would be no friendly fire if there was no reason to go to Iraq. And there were abundant reasons, but that’s a subject for another day.
Bottom line is, if we are not careful to back up our troops in harm’s way, we run the risk of repeating one of the most reprehensible events in American history – the way our troops were treated when they returned from Vietnam. War is not pretty. Never has been, never will be. But those men and women are doing the jobs they do so that you and I don’t have to, and so that we can live free. We owe them more than betrayal…or silence.
My loyalty lies with our troops. You want to blame someone for friendly-fire incidents? Blame the psychopathic dictator whose power hunger, efforts to amass weaponry, and outright, blatant defiance of the world led to our presence there in the first place! There would be no friendly fire if there was no reason to go to Iraq. And there were abundant reasons, but that’s a subject for another day.
Bottom line is, if we are not careful to back up our troops in harm’s way, we run the risk of repeating one of the most reprehensible events in American history – the way our troops were treated when they returned from Vietnam. War is not pretty. Never has been, never will be. But those men and women are doing the jobs they do so that you and I don’t have to, and so that we can live free. We owe them more than betrayal…or silence.
Labels: Iraq, My Two Cents, opinion
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