Calling Bill Kristol
I wish the conservative pundit, who is oh-so-optimistic about the war in Iraq, would read this New Republic "Diarist" from an anonymous soldier there. The theme is how American soldiers are being transformed into sickened and inhumane warriors by their experiences in Iraq.
An excerpt, in case you can't get behind the firewall to read the whole thing:
[This] is how war works: It degrades every part of you, and your sense of humor is no exception.
I know another private who really only enjoyed driving Bradley Fighting Vehicles because it gave him the opportunity to run things over. He took out curbs, concrete barriers, corners of buildings, stands in the market, and his favorite target: dogs. Occasionally, the brave ones would chase the Bradleys, barking at them like they bark at trash trucks in America--providing him with the perfect opportunity to suddenly swerve and catch a leg or a tail in the vehicle's tracks. He kept a tally of his kills in a little green notebook that sat on the dashboard of the driver's hatch. One particular day, he killed three dogs. He slowed the Bradley down to lure the first kill in, and, as the diesel engine grew quieter, the dog walked close enough for him to jerk the machine hard to the right and snag its leg under the tracks. The leg caught, and he dragged the dog for a little while, until it disengaged and lay twitching in the road. A roar of laughter broke out over the radio. Another notch for the book. The second kill was a straight shot: A dog that was lying in the street and bathing in the sun didn't have enough time to get up and run away from the speeding Bradley. Its front half was completely severed from its rear, which was twitching wildly, and its head was still raised and smiling at the sun as if nothing had happened at all.
I didn't see the third kill, but I heard about it over the radio. Everyone was laughing, nearly rolling with laughter. I approached the private after the mission and asked him about it.
"So, you killed a few dogs today," I said skeptically.
"Hell yeah, I did. It's like hunting in Iraq!" he said, shaking with laughter.
"Did you run over dogs before the war, back in Indiana?" I asked him.
"No," he replied, and looked at me curiously. Almost as if the question itself was in poor taste.
When this is what is happening to the hundreds of thousands of young men and women who have served there, how can we possibly say that we are winning in Iraq? How much of this sickness is carried home and emerges in the alleged actions of, say, a Michael Vick?
Congratulations, President Bush. You've done to the nation what Osama Bin Laden couldn't—turned Americans into beasts of a lower order than the ones we pointlessly slaughter.
