The real deal in Iraq

Just so I don't get accused of always turning to leftie news sources for my material, here's an enlightening piece from The Economist about the true cost in lives and humanity of the war in Iraq - "When deadly force bumps into hearts and minds". This piece shows a side of the Iraq War that a pliant and fearful U.S. news media mostly hides from the American public (or at any rate so downplays or sugarcoats things that we don't think much about it). The piece shows how ugly an insurgency war can get - and how easy it is for good soldiers and good people to turn into uncaring occupiers and even indiscriminate killers, because they feel that they have no choice. I've never had to deal with this level of violence and destruction first hand, though as a London policeman whose experience included more than one major riot in the '80s, I was confronted with how easily and quickly normal, decent individuals (who happened to wear a uniform representing law and order) could bend or break the normal mores of society when the occasion called. Good people put under pressure do bad or questionable things; it happens all too easily.

I'm not judging anything or anyone (a. apart from the media of course, and b. in any case the problem is systematic, not individualistic - I wish the military could accept that instead of scapegoating a few low-ranking military policemen and women over the Abu Ghraib prison "abuse" - i.e., torture - scandal). I'd just like the issue dealt with more honestly. But too many Americans at home just don't like to hear this on the nightly news - after all, these men and women are all "heroes" and we don't want to complicate that, do we? Or maybe people just need to hold on to some core beliefs and certainties - as in "support the troops," complete with yellow magnetic car ribbons - while they become more and more deeply concerned about what their government is doing in Iraq in their name. I don't know. But I do know that, apart from when an exceptionally compelling visual experience temporarily breaks through the fog (as with Abu Ghraib, which was quickly and effectively neutered in the U.S.), the media are quite happy to shield the viewers' delicate ears and sooth their troubles with a fog of ersatz patriotism and talk of "bad apples". But of course you can be absolutely sure that Arab news media have no such qualms. We are left with an impression of things going badly in Iraq, but we can have no idea of just how badly.