Hard Questions and Hard Truths

Posted by Bob Lord

So, I’m treating myself to a Sunday morning of reading the Times and my first read was about a blog kept by Sergeant Bales’ wife of all their trials and tribulations. I remarked to Tammy about how it seemed that Bales’ horrific acts may simply have been the product of war injuries, separation from his family, financial struggles, and the horrors of war. In other words, this may be the case of a completely decent human being reaching his breaking point and committing a horrific act.

Then, I saw these pieces: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/us/suspects-deployments-put-focus-on-war-strains.html?_r=1&hp 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/war-is-brain-damaging.html?ref=opinion

So, can we continue to deny that in order to accomplish its military objectives, the American empire, run by self-centered plutocrats entirely devoid of social conscience, is recklessly and callously destroying the bodies and brains of its poor and lower middle class “volunteers?”

 I place volunteers in quotes because the so-called volunteer military largely is comprised of individuals who, largely for economic reasons, believe service is their least bad alternative, with little or no understanding of the toll military service will take. Yes, they know when they sign up that they could pay the “ultimate” price, but they have no idea that the so-called ultimate price pales in comparison to the price they and their loved ones are much more likely to pay: a life of pure hell, futilely trying to control the demons unleashed by traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and the ghastly images of war, indelibly inscribed in their malfunctioning brains.

Undoubtedly, we’ll witness a very public trial, in which prosecutors place criminal blame on Sergeant Bales for his actions and seek either a life sentence or the death penalty. If they succeed, we can all feel better. We can hope the Afghans will be mollified (they won’t be) and we can sweep under the rug the painful truths about military service and its debilitating consequences to the average soldier. By convicting Sergeant Bales, the military may continue to avoid close scrutiny of its health care practices, where diagnoses of service-inflicted injuries and illnesses are systematically minimized so that financial resources can be devoted instead to sophisticated weaponry and officer pay. One pernicious example of this practice is that the preferred diagnosis for vets experiencing behavioral issues in borderline personality disorder. Why? Because BPD is considered non-treatable and, therefore, low cost. The price these vets and their families (and society) pay is that a substantial portion of them end up in the criminal justice system.

It will never happen, but it would be so welcome if Sergeant Bales’ attorney finds a way to use this occasion to put the American empire and the American military on trial for all the abuses that contributed to Sergeant Bales’ actions and so many less noticed actions like it. Somehow, some way, that trial needs to be held. The sooner, the better.

Comments

[Michael Powers]

We're now well into sending a second generation of our young into a meat grinder. I agree with most of what you say, except for one thing. Unless it can be proven that Sgt. Bales was insane when he killed those people, then he should be held responsible. I've served in the military, and I've been to prison, and during both experiences, I saw examples of man's inhumanity to man that haunt me to this day. But not once did I ever consider doing harm to another, simply because I could. If anything, those experiences caused me to look at myself and those around me; To examine what is unjust, and to be more socially aware. Those experiences made me angry and depressed. They also convinced me that violence is not an answer to anything. Every signal Sgt Bales got from those around him said that those people he killed were somehow less than human. Maybe those signals found a center in him.

Perhaps he fell victim to the greatest peril one faces when fighting evil. He became his enemy.