On war and god
Most of us don’t think that we will probably die tommorrow. But it is quite different for soldiers who are on the battle field. I had always thought that someone must be really stupid to join to an army.
Today I came across this blog post written by Andrew Olmsted. He was killed on January 3rd,2008 in Iraq. This blog post was written earlier by him and was to be published in case he dies in the war. It is a very touching post and the following paragraph struck me most,
Soldiers cannot have the option of opting out of missions because they don’t agree with them: that violates the social contract. The duly-elected American government decided to go to war in Iraq. (Even if you maintain President Bush was not properly elected, Congress voted for war as well.) As a soldier, I have a duty to obey the orders of the President of the United States as long as they are Constitutional. I can no more opt out of missions I disagree with than I can ignore laws I think are improper. I do not consider it a violation of my individual rights to have gone to Iraq on orders because I raised my right hand and volunteered to join the army. Whether or not this mission was a good one, my participation in it was an affirmation of something I consider quite necessary to society. So if nothing else, I gave my life for a pretty important principle; I can (if you’ll pardon the pun) live with that.
There are a lot of people who blame George Bush for the war. But the reality is that he is a democratically elected president and had the majority support in US for going ahead with the war. The soldiers who fight the Iraqi war are just doing their duty.
People die every day due to diseases, accidents and due to old age. But people also die due to human stupidity. There cannot be a better example for human stupidity than Iraqi war. For any conflict, war must be the last choice, not the first!
Personally I don’t believe in God. But most of the time I strongly wish that there is a God who values goodness in men and who punishes those who perpetrates violence and war.
There is no hope and no justice if there is no God.
January 5th, 2008 11:56
It is a mixed event war. I can see the emotional scars that we will be dealing with as in past wars. And in this “War on terrorism” is leading to a great challenge for both sides of the debates in America. You have a right to believe as you choose. I respect that. I support the troops. I pray that his soul rests in peace.