When Atrocity Is Central to Your Being

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 10 Jan 2014 20:59:47 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Arthur Silber is back in form, reminding us of the atrocity, the crimes against humanity committed in the US aggressive war on Iraq.

It is one thing to simply deny the reality of our own history. It is quite another to reach back into the past, completely recast the actions of the U.S., transform horrifying crimes which defy description into acts of nobility, and make ourselves into sympathetic victims -- moreover, the only sympathetic victims worthy of note. This New York Times story does all of that, in a manner which caused me to veer between shocked disbelief and nauseated horror: "Falluja's Fall Stuns Marines Who Fought There." The article discusses the "Sunni insurgents, some with allegiances to Al Qaeda," who "retook" Falluja "and raised their black insurgent flag over buildings" where American Marines had fought. Its focus is on the reaction of the Marines who fought there, and its tone is one of deep sympathy and understanding. That is, deep sympathy and understanding with regard to the Marines. Is there any recognition of the ongoing agony of the Iraqis, agony which is the direct result of the U.S.'s actions -- and of the actions of these Marines themselves? Of course not.

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What does that teach you?

Submitted by Faré on Mon, 13 Jan 2014 23:00:00 GMT

"Yes, you fought for less than nothing. Whose fault is that? And what does that teach you?"

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