Violence should be judged by its consequences, not its intentions

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/231614,CST-EDT-REF27A.article

We should learn from other costly wars

January 27, 2007
BY WILLIAM P. MURPHY

Anyone who watches "Blood Diamond," the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is sure to be struck by Dia, a 12-year-old who dramatically is transformed into a child soldier. Set against the backdrop of the bloody civil war fueled by the diamond industry in Sierra Leone, the film reminded me both of the children I taught in West Africa and the former child soldiers I met later Sierra Leone.

The memories of those children coalesced with recent news of the milestone of 3,000 deaths of our soldiers in Iraq. The young sent to Iraq were not much older than Dia. More than half of those killed were between the ages of 18 and 24. snip

• • Violence should be judged by its consequences, not its intentions. All wars are legitimated by passionate intentions to rid the world of evil, or correct injustices. The rebel commander in the film gives rousing speeches to the child soldiers about the need to use violence against the government, and even against civilians. But the film conveys cynicism toward lofty intentions of war by depicting the commander's lack of responsibility for the results of war.

• • Education is the opportunity cost of war. Dia is transformed from an enthusiastic schoolboy into a child soldier. And schools in this civil war were transformed into training camps for child soldiers. The film portrays the cost of war through a story of a boy's lost education. The individual loss is a community's loss.

[pinto]

1. Interesting article. Thanks for the post.

[msongs]

2. war is "lofty". gee, I didnt know that til I read this.

many of these kids have no particular future or things to do or look forward to.

do you think a kid who's been running free on the streets killing people with his uzi wants to go back to stocking his uncle's grocery store shelves?

let's hope some of these kids will come back to society and we can get rid of the warmongers who use and abuse them for their "lofty intentions of war."

Msongs
www.msongs.com