It's the War, Stupid

Folly, Upon Folly

One of the more escapist gifts I received at Christmas was a Jack Reacher novel, Nothing to Lose. For those of you who know who Jack Reacher is, you probably will understand why the next day was spent lazing in a warm Auckland summer's day, enjoying another world.

All of which is a bit prosaic but one (more serious) aspect stood out. Reacher, as fans will know, is ex-US military. Lee Child, the author, is a Brit but nonetheless has made his fortune writing about an ex-USMP. The historical background of his lead character has been the US military: mostly, the military has been cast in a positive light.

In Nothing to Lose--a more recent Reacher novel--a different note was struck. The hero is scathingly critical of US army bosses and the political policies which have led the US military into constant engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. The plot has Reacher intersect with military deserters, fleeing to escape deployment, and Child/Reacher show themselves sympathetic to their cause and plight. The world is changing. I can feel it in the air. I can taste it in the water. So said Galadriel, or something similar.

Two days ago, Sarah Lazare, an American anti-war activist wrote a piece in Al-Jazeera. It reads pretty much as one would expect. But the headline is instructive: "The US Military is Exhausted", it reads. Lazare writes:

Many from within the ranks are openly declaring that they have had enough, allying with anti-war veterans and activists in calling for an end to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with some active duty soldiers publicly refusing to deploy.

This growing movement of military refusers is a voice of sanity in a country slipping deeper into unending war.

The architects of this war would be well-advised to listen to the concerns of the soldiers and veterans tasked with carrying out their war policies on the ground.

Many of those being deployed have already faced multiple deployments to combat zones: the 101st Airborne Division, which will be deployed to Afghanistan in early 2010, faces its fifth combat tour since 2002.

"They are just going to start moving the soldiers who already served in Iraq to Afghanistan, just like they shifted me from one war to the next," said Eddie Falcon, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Soldiers are going to start coming back with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), missing limbs, problems with alcohol, and depression."

Many of these troops are still suffering the mental and physical fallout from previous deployments.

She documents the growing unease and resistance within the US military itself to the long-drawn out wars which are exhausting its soldiers. When one considers that some US divisions are facing their fifth combat tour and recall that means it would have been in active duty for a period much longer than the entirety of World War II, it underscores the seriousness of the situation.

But it is more than that. Israel has been on a war footing for decades. But it is much easier to maintain when it is patently and tangibly obvious that one is defending one's home and family. Israel struggles with its bellicosity only when the connection between war and defence is not immediately obvious (as for example when it maintained an occupation force in Southern Lebanon). When one is confronted with death and destruction in Afghanistan the bow is exceedingly long drawn to make a connection back to defence of one's kith and kin in the United States.

American political leaders and rulers, both Democrats and Republicans, have been far too ready to put the troops in harm's way, justifying it by talking up a "clear and present danger". But after a while "nation building" in Afghanistan has a tenuous connection with an elite, wealthy, and well-educated London-based Nigerian trying to blow up a US airliner coming in to land at Detroit. Sure, that particular threat was and is real--and must be faced and dealt with--but exactly how is this connected with nation-building-in-Afghanistan, again?

Another good read enjoyed recently was Apache Dawn, by Damien Lewis which a friend passed on. It is a fascinating piece on an Apache helicopter squadron, part of the UK Army Air Corps, fighting in Helmand province, Afghanistan in 2007. "Gripping and revealing" said the blurb. And it was. Two things relevant to our subject stand out in this book. The first was the attitude of the village people liberated from the Taliban. The British had an operational convention of participating in local village councils or suras once they had driven out the Taliban. Regularly they were told by the locals that they disrespected the Afghan national army and the government functionaries. They had proven themselves in the past to be corrupt, dishonest, and venal. At least the Taliban were honest, they would say. That speaks volumes. Try winning hearts and minds in that context.

The second was the experience of the helicopter pilots when they returned from their hair raising tour of duty, back to the UK. Having just come out of a theatre of intense fighting, with death and destruction and heroism and sacrifice on every side, they returned to a world which just did not care. Not only had they long ago forgotten that their countrymen were fighting on the other side of the world, they did not care that they had forgotten. It was unimportant and irrelevant to their reality.

It would seem that this is inevitable when governments get involved in wars which are not truly wars for defence and national survival, but rather are wars in someone else's back yard for the purpose of trying to make that back yard a better place. And this, more than anything else, is why post-traumatic stress syndrome is now endemic both in the UK and the US forces (but note, not in the Israeli Defence Force).

The doctrine of using military force to try to make things right around the world is at best naive and ill-considered. At worst, it is evil and destructive. When men overreach themselves, and stop minding their own business, the consequences are always--always--bad. We see it in private society and affairs; in communities and neighbourhoods. We see it as clear as a bell.

Why is it that when it comes to nations somehow we fail to see it, until it is too late, and the consequences are heaped upon us as the birds come home to roost?