Maureen Dowd: Teaching Remedial Decency

[pacalo]

I've read a few threads today about the Haditha massacre which have prompted debates about right vs. wrong in regard to the state of mind of the troops.

Think about what Dowd's words:

It is admirable that the Marine commanders want to morally sensitize the troops while they are in such a hostile environment, but it also seems a bit absurd, sending them to summer school in "core values."

There's no way to teach someone not to shoot an unarmed woman or child. If somebody doesn't already know why they shouldn't murder a baby, it's not clear that a refresher course will help.

The problem with brushing up on core values is that if you don't know them by a certain point you can't learn them. You can't teach remedial decency, any more than you can teach remedial ethics to White House officials who vindictively leak information about critics of the war after vowing not to leak.

As Norman Schwarzkopf said, in a quote that is part of the military's slide show on core warrior values: "The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."

Rozius Blog (courtesy of Buzzflash)

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. I thought that was a really good column, too.

When you start a war and send a bunch of 18 year olds off to fight you shouldn't be really shocked when awful things happen. It always happens in every war. It isn't right. We should never condone it. But it is going to happen. Wars are just horrible, horrible things.

I think one of the most despicable things this adm. has done was to send kids off to war for no good reason. We want to blame someone - tar and feather the assholes who came up with the idea.

[pacalo]

2. I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of this administration.

It is their illegal mission; they set the tone of hatred, disregard, & disrespect that has filtered down to the lower levels. Wise leadership is blaringly absent.

[theoldman]

3. During WWII our troupes committed many atrocities.

So did the other side to a greater extent. The reason no American troupes were charged with a crime was because we were not trying to win their hearts and minds. The idea during WWII was to win at any cost and we did it with the atom bomb. Iraq is a total different situation. We want them to love us and you cannot get the Iraqis to love us by killing their women and children. In a war you have to defeat the enemy and we will never defeat one billion Muslims.

[lakeguy]

4. i think the reason why we weren't charged with crimes was because

we won.

[theoldman]

5. You are right.

Only the losers get executed even if they were the good guys. There is a story about a Japanese general who outsmarted MacArthur. Guess who was executed?

[pacalo]

6. Beautifully said.

This administration reminds me of advertising: Whatever the product claims to be, you can bet the reality is just the opposite. Hide the flaws by claiming the opposite. They have no regard for the Iraqis & they could care less about their quality of life. And they certainly don't care if they have a democracy -- they only want a government they can manipulate to serve their agenda.

Like I said above, the blame lies squarely on this administration. This illegal mission should never have begun.

[Joe Bacon]

7. Maureen needs to be taught Remedial Decency when it comes to Al Gore

She repeatedly lied any lie about Gore to elect Bush. She still lies about the Clintons. Until she apologizes in print to Gore and the Clintons, I don't give a damn about anything she writes, it's too little and too late!