The price others pay for our “freedoms”

If you believe we all sleep a little better at night knowing our military is overseas defending our freedoms against evil terrorists, I hope this video upsets your slumber a bit:

There may be some debate over what weapons this group of people were carrying, but there is no debate over what happened after U. S. helicopters opened up on them with 30mm cannon fire.  They then proceeded to shoot unarmed civilians, including children, trying to evacuate the wounded.  At least 12 people were killed and the two children wounded.

Perhaps most sickening were the comments on the radio after the engagement, urging one of the wounded, Reuters driver Sameed Chmagh, to pick up a weapon (if indeed that’s what he was doing) so he could be shot again, or that it was these people’s fault for “bringing their children into battle”, never mind that they weren’t looking for battle; the Army helicopters shot them without warning as they tried to assist the wounded.

Perhaps someone can explain how we’re any more free now, because I’m having difficulty seeing it.  In fact there’s no rational explanation for how these wars, or any wars, have ever helped us maintain our freedoms.  We seem to be less free now than at any point in the past 200 years, and it’s not because radical Muslims hate our wealth and decadent culture.  It’s because our rulers must continually find “enemies” to threaten us, from within and without, to maintain their authority.

These wars were started by the last regime, and this atrocity occurred on George W. Bush’s watch; yet Barack Obama has made no real effort to reduce American troop presence in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and in the latter case has even escalated military operations.  Yet Obama campaigned on promises to get troops out of Iraq and harshly criticized Bush’s handling of both wars.  The president has changed, the party has changed, but the regime has not.  Nor has the rhetoric to justify the continued prosecution of overseas conquest.

Republican wars, Democrat wars — it hardly matters anymore who is to blame for them.  They are now just imperial campaigns, with all the horrors and enormous cost in blood and treasure they entail.  But empires inevitably fall.

About Brian Martinez  (39 Posts)

Full-time software developer, part-time poker player, occasional blogger. I live in Denver, Colorado.

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Tagged as: Afghanistan, Iraq, military, murder, terrorism, War