STORM2K

If America Loses Herself
No torturers among the troops that liberated us (Italy)


No, there were no torturers among the American soldiers who on June 4 1944 came up the Via Appia and at last entered Rome, the first capital of Axis Europe to be liberated. It is true that those soldiers were wearing the same military insignia as the tormentors at Abu Ghraib prison, but theirs was another army. Having expressed our disgust at what went on in Iraq, it is on this difference that we should perhaps be focusing our attention today, if we are to grasp the reasons for the difference, to understand what the military instrument is becoming in the West today, and to discern the likely fate looming over everything that the armed forces traditionally represent.

There were three things that immediately impressed us about the army that sixty years ago brought us freedom, and whose arrival we will be commemorating in a few weeks' time. The first was the relaxed, friendly bearing of the men of all ranks, the second was the fabulous riches of the quartermaster's stores, a cornucopia of everything from powdered eggs to penicillin and nylons, and the third was the number of cultural and entertainment opportunities that accompanied the army's presence. There were films, books, newspapers, radio broadcasts, lectures, and army messes to which the defeated population had instant, extensive access, often before the soldiers. For us, America at once became all three things, and so it has remained. Perhaps it will remain so forever, as intangible and poignant as the call of freedom.
In Iraq, however, we have seen not the faintest shadow of the three things that our memory still associates with the presence of the U.S. Army. Not even in the early days were there any soldiers not in battledress on the streets of Baghdad. No stalls were piled with American cigarettes, nor were there children with U.S. army-issue chocolate-stained mouths. Not even in the early days was there news of a lecture or film show organized by a revived Psychological Warfare Branch.

We have the impression that the army over there is not the one we used to know as the army of the United States. It looks like a force designed only for combat, and to win the war. It has ceased to, or no longer knows how to, be the mirror of a great country.
The experts tell us that the quartermaster corps has shriveled because everything is now outsourced. They say the number of troops has been drastically reduced because each soldier costs much more in a professional army, and public opinion will not tolerate an excessive number of men under arms. An army like that cannot afford to enlist university faculty or librarians to hold lectures or distribute newspapers.

I do not doubt that this is the case, nor that the trend affects just about every army in the West. But it is precisely by abandoning national service and treating the armed forces as just another business that "produces security" as cheaply as possible, and in consequence regarding war as the mere use of force, that the military instrument in our countries risks losing its soul, and its representativeness of the nation. It risks consigning its honor, as the heirs of Omaha Beach and Guadalcanal are consigning theirs, into the hands of semiliterate thugs maneuvered by emotionless intelligence experts. And perhaps, in the ultimate irony, of losing the war after winning all the battles.

by: Ernesto Galli della Loggia http://www.corriere.it

Okay Paolo! What about the civilian that was beheaded? I see you are once again bashing our military by posting this article. What a joke! Do not stereo-type our entire military because of an isolated few.

Could it be that this army is not the same as Army of earlier days, no thanks in part to almost a decade's worth of military budget cuts by Bill Clinton? And could it be that this Army is not the same as the Army seen in Italy because in 1944, our Army was fighting soldiers. Now they're fighting animals.

And ditto what Linda said about painting every soldier with the same brush as the tainted few who have appeared on the news in recent days.

the army is better today. lets see, the army air corps firebombed and carpet bombed innocent germans and japanese. it was done as a stated policy, to TERRORIZE the population.
lets also not forget, roosevelt put japanese in concentration camps. we are far more humane today. too much so

I've thought about this for a couple days. The article above is thoughful, and while it is a little too critical, it deserves a thoughtful answer.

We consider our armed forces to be "professionals," now that it is a volunteer force. In any organization, there are going to be bad individuals.

In WWII, we felt a kinship with the europeans that we were liberating. The civilians were truly happy to have Hitler and Mussolini taken out. We were appreciated. It was a mutual affection.

In Iraq, there is no kinship and much is ambiguous. Not a recipie for a warm welcome.

Finally, in the time of WWII, there were surely cases of misdeeds, and bad apples, but these did not get reported. It was reported yesterday, that virtually evrery US soldier has a digital camera.
With internet access, EVERYTHING is reported.

There is no doubt that times have changed since then. For many people, things are not so black and white anymore. The world is a lot more complicated, and you have to be discerning. There is still right and wrong, it's just harder to find, and anyone that does take a stand on something finds a lot of enemies. And those enemies can be both the ones that are directly opposed, but also those who are convicted, but who are too comfortable or not courageous enough to take that stand too.

Thanks Paolo...and Italians dragged Mussoilini and his mistress, who was guilty only of being his mistress, through the streets and hung his body from meat-hooks in the town square.

After the Allied occupation of southern Italy (1943), the King ordered Mussolini to be arrested in order to sign the armistice. Imprisoned, then liberated by the Germans, Mussolini lived in northern Italy until his capture and execution, on April 28, 1945, along with his mistress, Claretta Petacci, by military forces of the Italian Resistance. Next day, their corpses and those of Mussolini's henchmen were hanged in the Piazzale Loreto, Milan, on public view.

Where they arrested? Was there outrage? Court-martial?

Indeed a thoughtful article.

Perhaps what has changed most through the years is not the military or its standards or its proud tradition, but rather the standards around which our country (and others) have rallied around along the way.

The course of wars in our country and elsewhere have been driven by more powerful ideals. While each decade has been liberating in many ways by offering true discussion to lead to more sensitivity to others, it has in doing so diluted and confused the very foundation upon which we have stood.

This is no longer one nation, under God, but a nation under the freedom to believe or not believe in our God. It is no longer a nation of narrow principals and ideals, but of "political correctness" where the role is to offend as few as possible by serving up freedoms that truly stretch our limits of decency and purity.

Those who fight for this country now are fighting for their personal freedoms, their personal rights...not so much so for our collective sense of who we are and what we stand for.

In doing these things, we have found it ever-so-difficult to define right from wrong, selfishness from selflessness, and even among a platoon of exhausted men, I suspect each would define what their country may stand for in a variety of different ways.

But mostly we still stand as a beacon for those who are horrifyingly oppressed. It is in our frustration on how to open the hearts and souls of those who know only hate and fear that our humanity is exposed and we become something less along the way.

The world's struggles will continue indefinitely in time. Tis better still that we start with some ideals we believe are worth fighting for, oppression worth fighting against, and use a heart larger than any nation on earth to try to affect that change.

The alternative...self-serving isolation, absolute borders, no assistance for humanitarian needs, and no participation in helping others is a far more brutal way to treat our fellow man than what we are witnessing around the world these days.

I am absolutely convinced that leaving others to their own futures...without so much as a blink from us...would do two things.

It would make the disrespect that others have for our apparent arrogance today but a shadow of much more disgust and hatred from even our allies.

It would also set the stage for the have-nots to collaborate and devise massive threats that would not only militarily be a major risk within our borders but would economically bring this country to our knees. Hate for the United States would be more rampant than anything you are seeing today.

The side effect would also be that as a people we would feel woefully disappointed when we look in the mirror.

rainstorm wrote:the army is better today. lets see, the army air corps firebombed and carpet bombed innocent germans and japanese. it was done as a stated policy, to TERRORIZE the population.
lets also not forget, roosevelt put japanese in concentration camps. we are far more humane today. too much so

Helen thats why it takes years to accomplish something that should be wrapped up in a matter of months. Because we are so "humane". When fighting a war the way to win and win quickly with a minimum if AMERICAN casualties is to hit the enemy as hard as possible and not relent until the enemy is destroyed. I dont like hurting civilians either but I sure as hell dont like the thought of these planes arriving regulary ot the morgue in Delaware with the bodies of dead Americans.