There Are No Heroes in Illegal and Immoral Wars

[unhappycamper]

There Are No Heroes in Illegal and Immoral Wars
by Robert Jensen
Published on Monday, August 23, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

When the 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division rolled out of Iraq last week, the colonel commanding the brigade told a reporter that his soldiers were "leaving as heroes."

While we can understand the pride of professional soldiers and the emotion behind that statement, it's time for Americans -- military and civilian -- to face a difficult reality: In seven years of the deceptively named "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and nine years of "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan, no member of the U.S. has been a hero.

This is not an attack on soldiers, sailors, and Marines. Military personnel may act heroically in specific situations, showing courage and compassion, but for them to be heroes in the truest sense they must be engaged in a legal and morally justifiable conflict. That is not the case with the U.S. invasions and occupations of Iraq or Afghanistan, and the social pressure on us to use the language of heroism -- or risk being labeled callous or traitors -- undermines our ability to evaluate the politics and ethics of wars in a historical framework.

The legal case is straightforward: Neither invasion had the necessary approval of the United Nations Security Council, and neither was a response to an imminent attack. In both cases, U.S. officials pretended to engage in diplomacy but demanded war. Under international law and the U.S. Constitution (Article 6 is clear that "all Treaties made," such as the UN Charter, are "the supreme Law of the Land"), both invasions were illegal.

The moral case is also clear: U.S. officials' claims that the invasions were necessary to protect us from terrorism or locate weapons of mass destruction were never plausible and have been exposed as lies. The world is a more dangerous place today than it was in 2001, when sensible changes in U.S. foreign policy and vigorous law enforcement in collaboration with other nations could have made us safer.

[LatteLibertine]

1. I essentially agree

Patriotism and nationalism are often fueled for the end of war profiteering and driving the military industrial complex.

The most wealthy do not care about us or the lives of our soldiers. Look at how many of them are supported when they come home. Also look at how they're often willing to send them out there to die without the best or even appropriate equipment.

[pinboy3niner]

2. Reminds me of a verse from John Fogerty's 'Fortunate Son':

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooo, they send you down to war, y'all.
And when you ask them, how much should we give?
Ooo, they only answer more! More! More! Y'all.

It's all about lies and exploitation, canon fodder, lip service...and betrayal.

[xchrom]

3. Hence the mythology we have to create glorifying

The armed forces since the Viet nam debacle.

And this myth tracks along side
Modern conservatives grasping for power
And liberals playing 'cheer leader' to it.

[stray cat]

4. Tell that to someone who gives their life to save yours or someone elses

[mmonk]

5. I don't think either war in this case falls into that category.

In today's world, countries do not want to take on directly the most expansive and dealiest military in the history of the world. By telling this truth, I am not disparaging our troops. They do not make these decisions and I have two members of my extended family that have been in both of these theatres.

[T Wolf]

7. What a load of crap! No one in the military in the ME is doing anything to protect us.

The fact that they do not have the courage to take a stand against the wars condemns them to whatever fate they suffer.

[mmonk]

6. If a soldier through courage saves his or hers unit in combat,

they can be held up as a hero or heroine.

[msongs]

8. specific "heroic" acts in an otherwise unheroic event & THAT depends on your perspective....

if those specific heroic acts were committed by "the enemy" are they still heroic to you, or only when committed by your side?

[mmonk]

10. First off, I'm antiwar, so it's hard to discern heroism or attribute it to war to me.

That being said, many vets will tell you it comes down to the people in his unit, that they end up being who they are fighting for in a firefight in an extended war. So sometimes, it becomes no more noble than that.

[JohnyCanuck]

9. K & R