Good men pushed too far?

Uncle Jimbo | 6/01/2006 2:21 pm | ...

Yesterday I discussed the rules regarding shootings of civilians and I set aside the possibility of a massacre as that was simply cut and dried wrong. Today I will discuss what could cause a massacre by assuming the possibility one occurred. The anti-war media/activists are using this event to bolster their efforts to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and a strong response is called for.

One of the common threads I have seen during the Haditha coverage is the idea that this massacre was caused by over-stressed troops simply snapping under the unrelenting strain. That somehow events pushed normal men to do heinous things. I disagree and I think it quite likely that if this was a cold blooded killing then the ringleader was an already unstable individual. I have zero training as a head doc, but in all honesty I think they know considerably less about the science of evil men then they say anyhow. This is my observations about what I have seen and people I have known.

If this was simply a case of troops breaking under the strain there ought to be other instances in a three plus year conflict. Not that the left/media have not hyped every accidental killing of civilians, but there simply have not been any instances of rampaging US troops taking revenge on innocent civilians. As the CNN reporter previously embedded with the accused Marines noted, our troops are overly cautious about hurting civilians, even to their own possible detriment. So how then could something like this happen?

First lets admit that while the vast majority of military folks are excellent people, there are some serious scumbags who make it through the filters. I've met 'em and so has anyone who has served. This makes the military no different than any workplace as there are child molesters, rapists, and murderers inhabiting cube farms across the country. When one of them snaps and shoots up their workplace, it is not a reflection on IBM, and while it may be due to a relentless schedule, the individual was damaged goods to start with. The problem for the military is when a sociopathic-leaning individual has enough of a civilized facade, they can end up making life and death decisions, and when that facade drops it's too late.

The simple fact is there have been hundreds, maybe thousands of incidents similar to Haditha that didn't end up with two dozen dead civilians. This is not because the troops involved in those were under less strain, or loved their dead buddies less. It's because none of those units had a sociopath in them or if they did, there was someone able to keep him in check. That is what training, discipline, and quality people gets you, a military able to rain down hellfire but uses it only against the bad guys.

This is important first to ensure that no stigma attaches to the overwhelming majority of military folks who abhor an evil like this, but also because the loyal opposition wants to run the blame for this as far up the flag pole as possible. They were angry as hell that Abu Ghraib didn't get them Rumsfeld's head, and they are not gonna let this one stop at just the shooters. Oh no, this is a failure of leadership, probably all the way up the the Commander in Chief. They will paint the entire US force structure in Iraq as complicit in devaluing Iraqi lives and attempt to create the idea that our whole presence is fatally flawed and we must admit defeat and cut and run.

This is nearly their last chance, because if the Iraqis finalize their government and we continue to turn over security to them we can go home with a win the oppo can't stomach. So expect the mother of all s**tstorms over this with the lefties and the press monkeys flinging feces at everyone hoping some will stick. About all we can do is chuck it back at 'em, so get your shovels.

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