Rape and other war crimes are NOT peachy keen. War is no excuse

[uppityperson]

Now it needs to move up further. To military who enlist people who should not be in war zones. To those who decide going to war is a wonderful idea, but for reasons which are not wonderful.

I have been following Abeer's case for the last 2 yrs and truly did not expect a jury to say Guilty 16 times, to so definitively say "No. War is not an excuse".

I am very glad that President Obama is president, that we are rid of mrbush. I will be watching, and waiting, and hoping, for eventually, all those responsible for crimes during war or war crimes, to be held responsible for their actions.

Atrocities happen during war, but war is not an excuse

[county worker]

1. IMHO, when you are in a war, life seems very cheap. You see so much death and destruction that

you get desensitized to it and you get immune to feelings of regret or guilt etc. Also there is the feeling that no matter what you do it will have no consequence because no one really cares.

That is why there is so much PTSD. The conflict between what you were taught all your life and what you see or do in war cannot be reconciled.

Not everyone is like this but most are.

[uppityperson]

3. I agree, very much. One of the horrible things is taking fine decent people and

putting them into hellacious situations.

It happens. Atrocities happen. This is one reason why going to war should NEVER EVER EVER be taken lightly because it affects SO many people in SO many negative ways.

It is an explanation but it is not an excuse.

If that makes sense.

[county worker]

4. Right, That's why I get so mad at DUers who want to bring back the draft.

They think it will end war but what it does is add more kids to the mind fucking that war is. I was drafted in 1966.

[uppityperson]

6. I was just old enough that only 1 from my class was drafted, but had a wide group of vet friends

I will fight against the draft as long as I can.

Throwing more bodies in does not help. And "we can make it equitable" my shiny behind. Never ever would that happen. Vietnam was winding down for several reasons and having the draft was not one of them.

I had a wide group of vet friends in college and at times since. Some are saner than others. Battle fatigue, shell shock, PTSD, it is all the same and it always happens.

[county worker]

8. You can never get over it. You learn to live with it as time goes buy. It never seems like it was

in the distant past, it always seems not very long ago. War experience has a way of standing out from every other thing you have ever done in your life. The older I am getting the more I think about it. Maybe because at my age you don't have a lot of time to look forward to but you look back a lot and like I said it is always right there with you.

[Mike 03]

2. Like you, I took an early interest in this case and I can't agree more: the military is desperate

enough to accept recruits like Green, and that is despicable. There must be some psychological screening.

I'm satisfied with the outcome of this trial, but the worst thing of all is that he had people around him who cooperated rather than abort this hideous, heinous crime to begin with. It never should have happened in the first place.

[lunatica]

5. I think war itself is rape and murder on a far larger scale

I find it astounding that people feel they can justify war and yet think that what happens while killing the population somehow is worse in some way. Things like this are precisely what happens in wars. War itself is the most violent of human actions. It's insane to think of one action as being acceptable while another one isn't.

But then, I'm a Progressive.

[uppityperson]

7. Me too. eom