Your Opinion: The forces of modern warfare

Dear Editor:

War is political but it does not reside in the conservative or liberal mind. It resides in the heart of humans. Politicians start wars and end them. That's the way it has been for a long time.

The recent event of Marine desecration of Taliban bodies is part of what war is about. The officer quoted in a Jan. 19 News Tribune letter was basically telling us the same thing. There is nothing to see in this event. Move on and avert your eyes. Do not even speak about it!

Modern warfare is a product of the corporate state and managed as such. In the 1990 war, correspondents were "handled" as most do not want to be in the thick of battle. Most are hotel journalists.

War is a brutal instrument meant to kill humans and destroy property. If you are in battle your life will be at stake. You will witness dismemberment, rotting corpses, fear, anguish and heartbreak. Civilian deaths are a large part of any war operation.

Our government since the Vietnam War has learned how to make war easy. Do not have a conscript army because they will become rebellious if the goals are not clear. Shield the public from returning coffins. Keep optimistic propaganda going. During Republican or Democratic administrations little of this changes.

The recent event that was shown on YouTube got away from the authorities.

Desecration of the enemy dead predates the Greek wars. At Little Big Horn Native American women dismembered and desecrated the bodies. In El Salvador to Kosovo desecration of the others is always justified by what the other side did to us already. There is no end to the circle of blame and reprisal.

The atrocity of war itself would never be justified by Christ. However, in most any war the clergy becomes snared by its complicity. Churches have to function in society and glorious stories of heroic soldiers make it very hard to oppose any war. The complicity of all religions towards wars extends to the citizens of the state. There are those who hate a government that funds abortion but do not balk at paying the state to operate wars.

There are prices humans pay for this. A Tommy Lee Jones movie showing the damage of war that does not take sides is "In the Valley of Elah." It is important to understand the nature of a human dilemma.