It’s been a few months since I last posted about my disillusionment with the left wing of the political spectrum. That’s because of how my brain works. Other more post-worthy topics had entered my mind between then and now and my mind commanded me to write about those topics. So, with my mind now swept clean, I can now move onto more about my disillusionment with the left, this time in regards to war.
First of all, I am in no way some kind of war monger. I strongly believe there are far better ways for nations to settle their differences than to have their populations killing each other. There are always alternatives unless of course there is some mad man like Hitler forcing war upon the world or your country gets invaded. Then war is necessary.
Before, I go into the meat of this post, let me give you a brief history of myself in this matter. Throughout my youth, I was enamored with the subject of war. When I was nine, George A. Custer was a hero of mine and I loved to watch films of the US Cavalry fighting the Native Americans. Of course, back then, I was ignorant of the Native American perspective, but that’s another story. During my high school years, I was a total WWII buff and I still have the Time/Life books on the subject, though I never completed the set. My love of war so to speak was a major factor in my joining the Marines right after high school. It was then, I began to see the seriousness of war and I am grateful that I never had to go into actual combat during my time of service. However, if that call had come, I was ready to do so. Hell, as a young Marine one month out of boot camp, when the Iran Hostage Crisis happened, I was ready to go to Iran and rescue the hostage single handed.
The one event which really pushed me to the left and made me more anti-war was the bombing of the US Marines in Lebanon in 1983. It was the battalion I had spent three of my four years in the Corps with and many of my friends back then were coming home in body bags. This made me wonder why they were over there when they weren’t sure who they were supposed to be keeping the peace between. I began to question the necessity of blindly sending people off to risk their lives when that risk may not have been fully warranted. That, with many other contributing factors, pushed me more to the left and made me more anti-war. By 1986, I was protesting President Ronald Regan’s Contra war in Nicaragua because by then, I was of the opinion that he was so blinded by his hatred for Communism that he didn’t care what the consequences in human life were in achieving his aim.
Being much older and hopefully much wiser, I see the world through a different pair of eyes. I still don’t believe in war for war’s sake. I think the wars in the Middle East were a mistake. Here’s the ‘big but.’ If governments make that decision to take their countries to war, then those governments should let their soldiers do what they’re trained to do. One problem with these wars and Vietnam was too much restriction was put upon those fighting it. Now, I’m not saying cities should be indiscriminately bombed nor do I believe prisoners nor civilians should be indiscriminately murdered. However, if someone who works in a factory making war products risks their own life should that factory be bombed. Part of the way a war is won is taking out the enemy’s economic base as well as defeating their military on the battlefield. Let the military do it’s job. Saying that, if person or persons commit a war crime, they should be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law.
Here lies my disillusionment with the left in this regards. I am against the war, however, I find it appalling when those on the left “cheer” for the enemy, when they rejoice when soldiers from their own country die. To me, that’s disgusting and no matter how much the enemy could be right, there is no need to celebrate the loss of any human life. The same thing is true about giving succor to the enemy. I find it perplexing that former enemy soldiers, when tired of fighting, suddenly want to come and live in the country they were fighting against. Yes, it might have been their country of origin but going to fight for the enemy counts as defection in my book and these people are traitors and should be treated as such. The left making excuses for them doesn’t cut it with me.
After my long winded rant, here’s my disillusionment with the left in regards to war. My main point is, I might be against the war but I am not going to rejoice when people from my country die. I am not going to root for the enemy and every day the war goes on, I hope that it will end with little loss of life on either side. But if some war loving politician does decide to take their country to war, they should let the military do the job they were trained to do.
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