Give me a break....

I am so very tired of hearing the story about the Army sgt in Afghanistan who "executed" the 16 civilian Afghani people. Yes it was a tragedy. I dont discount that. But I feel like now the whole "purpose" and mission of our involvement in this country is in question because of the actions of one "bad apple." What REALLY is getting to me is the way in which Afghanistan is now judging the seemingly entirety of the United States of America and her armed forces based on the misguided actions of ONE individual. It is really a good thing that the United States, over ten years ago, didnt, in turn, judge the entirety of one nation based on the actions of 16 people (hijackers) who killed thousands upon thousands of innocent Americans. Do you see what I mean? Are we demanding 50K from the Saudi government for each innocent American killed? Our brave men and women have done countless acts of humanism and charity over there, and shown wave upon wave of compassion and even love to the people of Afghanistan. Is this all forgotten now?

The real tragedy of this whole situation is the dramatic irony--there is such blatant hypocrisy on both sides of this conflict. Afghanistan is a country that, for DECADES, has had groups of people who have both aligned themselves with and shown allegiances to WAR LORDS. Look at the name, for crying out loud. They are a country PREDICATED on war. That is their whole deal. For better or for worse, this is how they have chosen to deal with their lives and their situation. And NOW, the death of a mere 16 people (I dont mean to sound callous with that...but in the grand scheme of things....) has the whole country crying foul and freaking out and jihadding all over the place?

TheOnion.com had a BRILLIANT headline that read "Act of brutality by American soldier taints purity of war." Seriously. We are in a WAR here. The fact that there are even "rules of engagement" and all the stuff is just so silly. So silly. I understand that the Afghanis killed were civilians and not "military" (like Afghanistan has their own military......), but simply because they didnt wear a "uniform" makes their death more unacceptable? There are other examples of this dramatic irony too: When, months back, some korans were burned, it was total jihad. So, then, it is okay to kill kill kill kill kill and break up families and business goes on as usual....and that is all fine....but if you burn a BOOK, then that is just senseless barbarianism?

The biggest difference between us and these people, however, is something I have mentioned before: They protest with 8x10s of pictures in their hands. We dont. Maybe we need more 8x10 pictures of dead leaders like Kennedy or Taft or Harding. Then maybe we can all skip work and go out in the street and say their name over and over again. Maybe, then, we can start to relate to these people and figure out what the heck we are doing trying to help them.....