Like a Bad Cold

Cases of abuse by US personnel in Iraq continue to surface:

The documents the ACLU released today...describe substantiated incidents of torture and abuse by U.S. Marines, including:

Holding a pistol to the back of a detainee’s head while another Marine took a picture (Karbala, May 2003)
Ordering four Iraqi juveniles to kneel while a pistol was "discharged to conduct a mock execution" (Adiwaniyah, June 2003)
Severely burning a detainee’s hands by covering them in alcohol and igniting them (Al Mumudiyah, August 2003), and
Shocking a detainee with an electric transformer, causing the detainee to "dance" as he was shocked (Al Mumudiyah, April 2004).

Something tells me that these aren't the only instances where, to put it in the most diplomatic of terms, questionable things were done. This could explain another Times article focusing on mental health issues either already affecting some combat veterans or expected to affect them, according to a number of experts in the field:

What was planned as a short and decisive intervention in Iraq has become a grueling counterinsurgency that has put American troops into sustained close-quarters combat on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War. Psychiatrists say the kind of fighting seen in the recent retaking of Falluja - spooky urban settings with unlimited hiding places; the impossibility of telling Iraqi friend from Iraqi foe; the knowledge that every stretch of road may conceal an explosive device - is tailored to produce the adrenaline-gone-haywire reactions that leave lasting emotional scars.

And in no recent conflict have so many soldiers faced such uncertainty about how long they will be deployed. Veterans say the repeated extensions of duty in Iraq are emotionally battering, even for the most stoical of warriors...

"In the urban terrain, the enemy is everywhere, across the street, in that window, up that alley," said Paul Rieckhoff, who served as a platoon leader with the Florida Army National Guard for 10 months, going on hundreds of combat patrols around Baghdad. "It's a fishbowl. You never feel safe. You never relax."

In his platoon of 38 people, 8 were divorced while in Iraq or since they returned in February, Mr. Rieckhoff said. One man in his 120-person company killed himself after coming home.

"Too many guys are drinking," said Mr. Rieckhoff, who started the group Operation Truth to support the troops. "A lot have a hard time finding a job. I think the system is vastly under-prepared for the flood of mental health problems."

War, contrary to what many people think, is ALWAYS an ugly exercise. I seriously doubt anyone pushing for war in Iraq EVER considered the degree of suffering they were endorsing as a consequence of combat. Heads and limbs blasted from bodies, internal organs ripped to shreds and/or exposed to open air, bones and teeth splintered, skin burned completely off--and mixed in with all this is the pervasive stench of death, day after bloody day.

Without condoning WHAT they did for a second, I can certainly understand WHY soldiers engaged in what Limbaugh and other chickenhawk punks like himself call "fraternity pranks" (and I happen to think that Rush should be subjected to the same if he thinks it's so goddamned innocent). It's because, as I've posted before, they're both witnessing and precipitating the complete breakdown of the civil society and social order. That's what war IS. And civil society and social order are a LOT more fragile and prone to breakdown than most people expect. When it breaks down, it's not very easy to restore (e.g., Lebanon in the 1970's).

People exposed to a complete breakdown in the social order often show a remarkable resiliancy in returning to "normal" life--either that or they manage to deal with their issues without becoming a danger to the community...however, some folks react differently. Many of THESE people become only a danger to themselves, which is tragic enough--but some truly step over the line.

Even scarier is the prospect that many of the troubles affecting the minds of our soldiers will likewise affect Iraqis. And who knows what that portends.