Regards, Ivan
Posted on 03/31/2003 5:07:59 PM PST by MadIvan
THE other day I watched a British television journalist interview a British military commander, fresh from combat. Generally, the whole, incessant, rolling TV War Thing has made my life resemble Groundhog Day, but I can recall this particular discourse quite clearly. The journalist did all the usual "What’s going on?" stuff and the officer replied with all the equally usual tactical stuff that, as usual, made the journalist’s eyes glaze over in a look of such total uncomprehending blankness, he resembled a dead cod being asked to recite the Periodic Table.
So far, so usual. But then, when the soldier had stopped speaking (so he knew it must be his turn) the journalist piped up: "Right. So, how many Iraqis have been killed?" Now it was the officer’s turn to look blank. "I have no idea" is what I think he said. I can’t be sure if he followed it up with anything else, because by now my head was in my hands and I was rocking back and forth moaning: "No! No! No!"
Given the circumstances, I can think of few more pointless questions. How the hell would he have that information, right at that moment? You don’t ask the lawn-mower driver how many daisies he cut, do you? And even if it were the problem of a high-ranking officer to personally tot up the enemy dead immediately after a skirmish, wouldn’t it have been slightly more polite to ask about any British casualties first? Obviously, as there were no Americans involved, British casualties would be minimal, but it’s the thought that counts. Is it really acceptable, when talking to a professional soldier in the midst of battle, to solicit after the enemy’s health?
Despite the fact that it’s currently everywhere we look, it seems that many people no longer understand what war means. For a soldier, it means carrying out orders and following them through to the best of his ability until there’s a result. Preferably a successful one. For some of us back home - and evidently for some journalists in the field - it’s a chance to wring our hands and try to make our liberal hearts bleed more than those of the war victims.
When the war started, I saw a headline (OK, it was in an Italian paper, so take it how you will) which read: "The marines advance!" Now, I wouldn’t consider that to be news. Isn’t that rather the "Dog bites man" of war reporting? I kind of expect the marines to advance. That’s what they’re for. By all means, tell me if they don’t - that’s interesting - but for all the shock and awe it induced in me, the headline may as well have read "People die". Tell me something I don’t know.
But apparently some British soldiers didn’t even know that. Two servicemen have been sent home after they complained that they didn’t want to fight in a war that might cause the deaths of civilians. It beggars belief what sort of war they thought they might end up fighting and it makes me wonder why the hell they bothered joining up in the first place. You’d think, at some point, they must have wondered how Action Man got his scar.
My quarrel isn’t so much with the rather sensitive scruples of these individuals than with their timing. I have a scrap of respect for the soldier who refused to go to the Gulf, but to get there, have a good look around and then decide your sensibilities are too delicate is pathetic in the extreme. There must be many soldiers who find this war morally ambiguous, but they took the King’s Shilling and they’re doing their job. When the going gets tough, the tough don’t say "Look, Mummy! Blood!" and ask to come home.
Such soldiers aren’t much better than the so-called human shields, who all raced home even before the first whiff of grapeshot. There seems to be a widespread misunderstanding about the realities of warfare, which is made even more unbelievable by the amount of opposition there is to this war. Surely, nobody can have experienced all these months of protest and then express shock, now the war has started, that people are dying?
It’s too late to feel "uncomfortable" - as one terribly fragile female reporter expressed it - with the killing. It’s happening. Praying for it to end is fine, but collapsing on the chaise-longue with a bottle of smelling salts doesn’t help anyone.
Regards, Ivan
Well, I grant you that a large chunk of them are working towards that goal, but I didn't agree with her that we should be cowering in our homes and fretting over every report.
A great many people have no memory of long wars, casualty lists, and the many dangerous things that can go wrong during a battle. They are easily manuipulated by the left and the press. Hopefully, most will find it within themselves to press on.
Cold.
Regards, Ivan
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