“I think of people who are innocent and a bit naive and it makes me want to protect them from life, like I think they have a chance since they have not been corrupted by violence and the reality that the world is a scary fucking place.”// posted by Travis
I’d like to think of myself as an innocent. I didn’t see the beheading clip. I didn’t want to. I don’t know if acynic can be an innocent too. I’ve heard very few statistics concerning the war(s) in Afghanistan and Iraq. I know about 200 American soldiers have died. And the public has clamored against the state to “pull our boys out!” Pull them out? What were we doing there again? Are we done already? I heard that one Dutch soldier died and the Netherlands thought it might be time to withdraw.
Can I still be an innocent if I think 201 men isn’t that many? 201 is tragic. 2 is tragic. The real tragedy is that the majority of Americans, I suspect the majority of soldiers sweating in the desert don’t understand. We will never win this fight. We can’t win because we don’t have the perseverance. It seems the American idea of “winning” a war is beating the loser into submission. Holding him down until he says “mercy” then we graciously let him up, and bandage his wounds, and teach him to “good way.” And because he understands our ways are better, he agrees to not pick on his neighbor because there’s always going to be a bully across the ocean. Big brother is watching.
But our opponents will never give up this time. They are wily and their words don’t match our meanings. They will never agree that “our way” or any compromise made is right for them—because it won’t be.
We lost Vietnam. We lost a lot, more money and men then people care to remember. We may have lost some power and influence—but what we lost in the jungle—I feel will not compare to what we will lose in the desert. I fear for my times.