IVAW Gets U.S. Military Ready For The Firing Squad

The IVAW is testifying to Congress about atrocities committed during the Iraq war, the vileness of the Bush Administration, and their general angst towards the system. I can certainly sympathize with many of these vets, as war is an awful reality and leaves countless people physically and emotionally scarred due to its brutality. But the manner in which they are attempting to shake up the system will have extremely negative ramifications for veterans for quite some time in America.

Fellow vets Jonn Lilyea at This Ain't Hell and TSO at The Sniper call BS on this DC event, but the vile statements brought to light by these IVAW members have already wreaked havoc on, not just the Bush administration, but also service members themselves. Breitbart has the story of Matthis Chiroux saying "I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school...I was 'filet mignon' for recruiters", which perpetuates the meme that soldiers are irresponsible and incompetent imbeciles, only capable of robotically following orders. Spencer Ackerman talks about another vet, Goldsmith, who states that he joined the Army to "kill Muslims". In the comments, Spencer erroneously states that one guy's actions don't reflect on the entire military. Unfortunately, this is not quite accurate, because due to the cohesivene structure of the service and civilian perception, one member can have huge negative repercussions on the entire military organization (see Okinawa rape case). Finally, Matthew Yglesias discusses an escalation of force incident that got resulted in Iraqi civilians killed, and an angry commenter quips:

And people wonder why I sincerely desire that Bush, Cheney, Rice, Powell, Lieberman, both Clintons, and roughly 200,000 others, be tried as war criminals and, upon conviction, be hanged by the neck until DEAD DEAD DEAD? As far as I'm concerned, anyone who DOESN'T want that is a baby killing monster.

Ugh. I've heard of BushHalliburtonCheneyCo being tried for war crimes, but us military types going to the gallows is news to me. While I sympathize with the angst of the IVAW members, and in some cases their hearts may be in the right place, I strongly urge them to examine their tactics and how they are perceived by the civilian public. These comments can be easily exploited by many organizations of dubious merit to morally equate veterans with monsters...and that would be a disaster for all of us. Since it seems appropriate, here's a tune from the SubHumAns about the existenstial outlook of the firing squad:

I had a firing squad dream, I saw it all clearly

I heard the headless people scream, I saw it all clearly

I saw the holy man

Blood on his holy hands

I saw the justice of god

Police and priests and prophets all in one

The new order soldiers taking aim on holy orders

People bowing at the call

Rebels standing at the wall

It’s called the justice of god

I saw their justice

I saw the word of god

I saw their mercy

It was the firing squad

As Long As I Can Smoke That Last Cigarette