General Stanley McChrystal paid the ultimate price for standing up to politicians that were the reason he was in a war. He spoke his mind. If I were a frontline soldier I’d like to have a general in charge who has the soldier’s welfare in mind, not a political agenda that started out as a fight over oil but morphed into the war on terror as we now know it when no weapons of mass destruction were found.
What is it about politicians? Do they really just consciously or unconsciously treat the armed forces as pawns in a chess game? War is not a game! People die under the belief they are fighting for the freedom of us civilians. Their name is in the national press for a day or two & then they are slowly forgotten, just another number in a current death toll. That death count in Afghanistan is currently about a 1000 for the US & 300 for the UK. The UK population is a lot smaller than the US population so the 300 deaths as a percentage of the UK population must be way higher than the US death toll as a percentage of the population.
But what about the rest? I don’t mean the armed forces still able to fight, I mean the wounded. The total US wounded is closing in on 14,000 according to one website . Injuries vary but for many their injuries will affect / detract from their quality of life for the rest of their lives. According to this website UK wounded may now be over 3300.
Ever notice how the dead are honoured, many times publically, as an addition to the death toll but world politics is really carefull to avoid wounded figures? I guess 300 sounds better in political soundbites on war than 3300 for the UK, or 1000 sounds better in political soundbites than 14,000 for the USA.
This war, is it worth it? I don’t think so. The terrorists will play a waiting game. The western world is in debt already. We can’t afford this war. It’s an unwinnable war. Of course one argument for it is that those brave soldiers didn’t die for nothing. Well, what about this older saying: ‘sometimes you lose a battle to win the war’. How about ‘lose the war to win the world’.
Trouble is we are all mammals at heart, finding out our own place in the pecking order of life. We are all still a bit tribal. Just don’t blindly follow your leader with out being prepaired to ask why sometimes, it may just cost you your life. don’t get me wrong here, I’ve the greatest respect for our troops, especially when you bear in mind how little they get paid for the risks they may take as part of their job. The armed forces need more people like General Stanley McCrystal looking out for their well being.
In the UK you can donate to Help For Heroes to help the wounded recover.
I don’t know anything about any US based charities that may do a simular thing to Help For Heroes, but I did find this link rating the charities in 2007.
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