More reality denying from not just wingnuttia but the cringing, soulless media as well. Yesterday I noticed a couple of blog posts about the Congressional testimony of Jamie Leigh Jones, who makes a pretty compelling case that she was brutally raped and assaulted by Halliburton co-workers...a story that the New York Times seems to think is only worthy of a couple of perfunctory wire service reports. Oh, and it turns out that at least ten other women have reported being assaulted (meaning it's likely there are even MORE victims who, for various reasons, decided to NOT file reports).
Then, also reported as sort of an afterthought, is the tragic, ugly story of Private Steven Green, accused (with strong evidence) of brutally raping a 14 year old Iraqi child, then just as brutally murdering her AND her family. Four others have been already been convicted for their roles in this. Green's trial is now set for...April of 2009.
Finally, this morning I noticed this article about a real-life situation somewhat loosely akin to the Vincent D'Onofrio character in Full Metal Jacket: a clearly disturbed young soldier killed himself (he did NOT shoot a drill instructor or anyone else) after repeated and loud signals that he was clearly NOT suited for Army life...yet the military continued to carry him, even as they deliberately did all they could to make his life miserable.
Now maybe it's just me, but I don't think these articles are unrelated: they point to the VERY obvious reality that--DUH--war IS an extraordinarily ugly endeavor, ergo, an ABSOLUTE LAST RESORT. Wingnuts seem to lack the understanding that a MAJOR consequence of war is A. TOTAL. BREAKDOWN. OF. SOCIAL. ORDER...either that, or they welcome it. Neither is particularly pleasant to consider, and both point to very serious issues among that crowd. Referring to them as socio- or psychopaths is NOT mere rhetorical hyperbole, particularly when their response to the stories above tends, as often as not, towards even more perverse crudity, at least in their verbiage.
Some "Good" Germans eventually had to take a LONG look at themselves when the truth, inevitably, came out. Are we ready to do the same?
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