Crushed by Inertia

See, right here, this is why grand military adventures overseas are never a good idea. You don't go into war for any other reason than absolute neccessity, as a last resort and with a plan for withdrawl if things don't turn out your way, because life in a war zone ruins people's minds. Your own people, not just the ones you're fighting. It destroys families. It turns rational men and women insane. It leads to situations where Americans are responsible for raping and murdering whole Iraqi families.

A group of American soldiers in an insurgent-riddled town allegedly noticed a young Iraqi woman when on patrol and later returned to rape her, according to U.S. officials Friday. In an apparent cover-up attempt, she and three members of her family then were killed and her body was set on fire.

Five U.S. troops are being investigated, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press.

It is the fifth pending case involving alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops.

I'm sure some if not all of these soldiers were mentally stable, controlled and sane individuals when we sent them over there. Years of living in constant grinding fear, isolated from your loved ones, losing friends in battle and coping with an inordinate amount of stress does wacky things to people. Slowly, over time, they begin to forget who they are. They become senseless killing machines incapable of determining what sorts of homicidal activities are appropriate during wartime and what sorts of homicidal activities are heinous and criminal in nature.

These men are to blame for their actions. To my mind, there isn't much one can say to excuse raping and killing a woman, burning her corpse and then murdering her family so you don't get into trouble. You can't really plead ignorance to those charges.

But they are not ultimately responsible. They did not wake up one morning and say, "I feel like raping an Iraqi woman! TO BEIJI!" No, our government sent them over there, dehumanized their enemy, provided them with weapons and then set them loose. The fact that innocent Iraqis wound up suffering and dying by their hands is unfortunate but not entirely unexpected, considering the civilian leadership under which these soldiers operate.

When you have a government that doesn't bother to stop rampant looting in the days after the forcible occupation of their capital city, that doesn't properly equip its own troops, that permits the Commander in Chief to ignore the law, that doesn't bother to finish major reconstruction projects and that routinely covers up or ignores scandalous and illegal treatment of enemy combatants and detainees, a clear message is sent to our soldiers on the ground. We don't really care about Iraqis.

Our troops have been sent into this situation by greedy buffoons, none of whom have seen combat more intense than syndicated "American Gladiators" reruns, and expected to thrive and maintain a sense of propriety and decorum. Best of luck with that...