12/21/06

13 counts

it's winter solstice. the darkest day of the year. today is also the day the marines involved in the Hadetha scandal were charged with murder. 13 counts.

i'm so confused how men who go to war can be trained to kill, then, are left to navigate the messiness of who is friend and who is foe. after months at war, does everyone become a foe?

civilians are killed everyday in this war. it's ridiculous to believe that ONLY our enemies are being killed. but we don't call that murder. we call that spreading democracy.

does anyone else see how fucked up this is? that men at war are being charged with murder? isn't that the point of war? isn't it a bit righteous of our own governement to punish these men who they say got it wrong, when they got this whole damn war wrong.

a good friend of mine, a solider in iraq, ends every email with this message.

"People sleep peacefully at night because brave men stand ready to do violence on their behalf- George Orwell" i don't sleep peacefully and i don't want ANYONE to do ANY violence on my behalf.

so does that make him my friend or my foe?