A U.S. Army sergeant is said to have murdered 16 innocent civilians early yesterday morning in southern Afghanistan. This was an intentional and methodical killing spree, with 9 of the victims being children. If this were not horrible enough, he pulled 11 of the bodies into a pile, 4 of which were little girls under the age of 6, and set them on fire!
There is not a lot to be said about such a heinous act, and no sympathy for this soldier’s plight, whatever that might be, will be forthcoming from this writer. According to the New York Times article, this sergeant had served 3 tours in Iraq, and had been deployed to Afghanistan since December.
This act was one of pure evil, regardless of any reasoning put forth by this soldier or the Army, and the military itself should face massive scrutiny for these abominations committed in the name of aggressive war.
This is not an isolated incident, except in the fact that it is one particular act of mass murder. Mass murder is the job of the military, and since soldiers do often commit heinous acts upon orders, why should it be thought as isolated when one of them apparently acts on his own?
If the U.S. had not aggressively attacked an innocent country and its people, this would never have happened. It is time to stop this horrible carnage, and bring all troops around the world home for good!
War is the tool of governments and their militaries, prosecuted for power and profit, all at the expense of the life and freedom of innocent people. War is worth absolutely nothing, except for death, maiming, torture, terrorism, and the destruction of families and countries! Those who prosecute wars of aggression should be prosecuted themselves, and without hesitation!
Man has no right to kill his brother. It is no excuse that he does so in uniform: he only adds the infamy of servitude to the crime of murder.
Percy Bysshe Shelley