"What is remarkable about American soldiers is that, on average, there has never been a more humane group of soldiers in the history of the world. "

How true this is. Historically, an army is something to be terrified of, armed males devoid of morals harming all in its path. The American military is different. Again and again the scene of crowds cheering the arrival of a foreign army of Americans has been filmed or recorded by eyewitnesses. American soldiers are different from other soldiers. Are there whack-jobs in our military? Undoubtedly. but by and large, our military is restrained by American principles of freedom and right.

Actually, if we were not basically good, we would not care about accusations that we weren't. Did Rome care about its image? Well, it did, but the image it was going for was not one of benefactor; it wanted to dominate and inspire fear, not bring freedom and establish autonomy. Did the Mongol horde care that its victims didn't like them? Did the Japanese worry about its image when it dominated Asia?

If we consider Ghandi and his remarkable job in gaining the liberty of his people, we must consider who he was up against. The British were a people who truly cared about goodness, a people who could be embarrassed by their own cruelties and mistakes. I don't think Ghandi's tactics would have worked against Gengis Khan.

The Abu Ghraib incident is a shame to the U.S. But it is a shame only because we want to be good and do right. If we were only interested in domination, we wouldn't care in the least.
Anna Venger | Homepage | 05.13.06 - 5:17 pm | #

I always print mynym out and peruse at bedtime...not to be putting me to sleep, mind you!
but the black background makes it quite hard to read.

I love this blog!!
Nancy Willing | Homepage | 05.15.06 - 9:33 pm | #

"I always print mynym out and peruse at bedtime...

Then maybe you can tell me when I write something poorly, as sometimes I'm using writing to formulate my thoughts instead of formulating my thoughts and then writing them.

Sometimes that works, but reading some of my old posts that break down grammatically sometimes and so on, sometimes it doesn't. See, that sentence wasn't that great either.
mynym | Homepage | 05.15.06 - 10:21 pm | #