Is al Queida a bigger threat than Hitler?

Umm, no. Which makes this really important.  Do good people make evil things happen in the heat of battle -- hell, yes. Battle is essentially an ugly proposition. Should good people make evil things happen after battle in the name of truth, justice and the American way?  Only if we want to make the American way synonymous with evil. Which makes this especially poignant.

"Back then, they and their commanders wrestled with the morality of bugging prisoners' cells with listening devices. They felt bad about censoring letters. They took prisoners out for steak dinners to soften them up. They played games with them.

"We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or pingpong than they do today, with their torture," said Henry Kolm, 90, an MIT physicist who had been assigned to play chess in Germany with one of Hitler's commanders, Rudolph Hess.

"Nearly 4,000 prisoners of war, most of them German scientists and submariners, were brought in for questioning for days, even weeks, before their presence was reported to the Red Cross, which didn't comply with the Geneva Conventions. Many of the interrogators were refugees from the Third Reich.
"We did it with a certain amount of respect and justice," said John Gunther Dean, 81, who became a career Foreign Service officer and ambassador to Denmark. The interrogators had standards that remain a source of pride and honor. "During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity."

I love soldiers. I have enormous respect  for people like Chuck Hagel and John McCain and Wes Clark and Barry McCaffrey and Bob Kerry. I've yet to hear a credible combat Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine endorse torture as a way of getting quality intelligence. Frankly, I have real problems with the idea that torture could stop an immediate threat anyway. Hey, I've enjoyed parts of 24...I just don't confuse it with reality. For decades, most American soldiers bought into the Republican-Reactionary cant because it was effective. The big lie and all that. However, there were always folks who saw a bit more, and now like Kipling's Tommy Atkins , they are beginning to see...

Some people are inherently credible. Some people are not...Rush Limbaugh et al come to mind, but hey, it's a big crowd of evildoers who are willing to hide their twisted, sadistic psycho-sexual fantasies behind the courage and sacrifice of folks like Brian McGough and Brandon Friedman. I'll let Brandon  have the next to last words, first from his book and then from his post...

"Lying on my cot, I came to the point that many people reach in a situation where they stop what they’re doing and say, "Wait a second. This is bullshit.  This isn’t right."  Two guys in our battalion were dead, two families ruined.  And try as I might, I couldn’t figure out what the purpose of that was.

"Things that had been welling up inside me all summer suddenly exploded in my head like a dozen Roman candles.  I hated the president for his ignorance.  I hated Donald Rumsfeld for his appalling arrogance and his lack of judgment.  I hated their agenda.  I hated Colin Powell for abandoning the Army—for not taking care of his soldiers—when he could have done something to stop these people.  I hated them because the Army had seen this insurgency coming.  I hated them because they didn’t listen to the people who told them this was a bad plan.  I hated them because now, it meant that my guys could be next.  It meant that I could be next.  And I didn’t want to die like this—not in a confusing mishmash of ideologies, purposes, and bullets.

"I felt like we had been taken advantage of.  We were professionals sent on a wild goose chase using a half-baked plan for political reasons.  Lying there restlessly, I was reminded of a Schwarzenegger line in one of his movies—when, after being used and lied to, his muscle-bound character had expressed perfectly what was now on my mind: My men are not expendable.  And I don’t do this kind of work..."

"If we’ve been used by anyone, clearly, it’s the Republicans who’ve done the using.  They’re such hypocrites.  And it didn’t stop there.  Thursday, Rush was at it again, referring to Brian McGough as "this poor guy Brian McGough." Poor, helpless, ignorant Brian McGough.  The same Brian McGough who was awarded a Bronze Star in Afghanistan after 9/11 for his actions during Operation Anaconda, during which time Rush Limbaugh’s fat ass was hiding behind a microphone in Florida, cowering in fear of terrorists. It never stops.  This is a game to these people.  They have no understanding of real-life suicide bombers.  Of real-life shrapnel.  Of real, honest to god fear. This is why they must be removed from power."

And Tommy Atkins...

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
    O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
    But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
    The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
    O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.
 
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
    For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
    But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
    The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
    O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.
 
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
    Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
    But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
    The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
    O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.
 
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
    While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
    But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
    There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
    O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.
 
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
    For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
    But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
    An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
    An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

 

 

And John Randall Cash gets the last the one..."It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks..."

Comments

[Marmoset]

Thanks for putting that JC vid up. Never saw that one. Have to admit that I think his last works were his very best.

[Comandante Agi]

American IV and V are loaded with gems.

I bet he regretted doing this one.