Compassion and Kos. Justice and Jay

Compassion and Kos. Justice and Jay - I could write a lot about "Kos"' vile, despicable post yesterday, essentially spitting on the graves of the four American civilian contractors who were murdered in Fallujah earlier this week.

Let the people see what war is like. This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly.

Note to "Kos" - the people of the Red States - who supply a disproportionate number of this nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines - know all too well that this is not a video game. It's you that needs to learn the value of the human life as something more than an artifact of puerile spin.

As we'll see:

That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.

I'm nearly paralyzed with rage. These peoples' hatred of the President has warped not only their sense of what it is to be American - it's eroded their very humanity.

Because they're "mercenaries?" It's in part because of "mercenaries" like LaFayette, Pulaski, Von Steuben and Kosciuszko that you have the freedom to spout your vacuous bilge without fear of being picked up in the night and dumped in a ditch with a bullet hole between your eyes.

Words fail me. It's rare, but it's finally happened.

Of all that's been written about this ghastly episode, none is better than fellow Minnesota blogger Jay Reding's tour de force post this morning. He puts faces to the names - and brings coherence to the blind desire I have to knock "Kos" sprawling right now.

(Via The Professor)

UPDATE: Kos has changed his post. Some of my commenters believe it's because of the advertising he's lost. Maybe.

Reading Kos, it's hard to see which was worse - the original, or the elaboration:

There's been much ado about my indifference to the Mercenary deaths in Falluja a couple days ago. I wrote in some diary comments somewhere that "I felt nothing" and "screw them".

My language was harsh, and, in reality, not true. Fact is, I did feel something. That's why I was so angry.

I was angry that five soldiers -- the real heroes in my mind -- were killed the same day and got far lower billing in the newscasts. I was angry that 51 American soldiers paid the ultimate price for Bush's folly in Iraq in March alone. I was angry that these mercenaries make more in a day than our brave men and women in uniform make in an entire month. I was angry that the US is funding private armies, paying them $30,000 per soldier, per month, while the Bush administration tries to cut our soldiers' hazard pay. I was angry that these mercenaries would leave their wives and children behind to enter a war zone on their own violition.

Nice spin, "Kos".

The fact is, the four civilians were bigger news not because of who they were, but how they died; burned to death and then desecrated by a howling mob of Saddamites engorged on bloodlust.

You can't leave that part out of story and lay any claim to intellectual honesty.

So I struck back.

Unlike the vast majority of people in this country, I actually grew up in a war zone. I witnessed communist guerillas execute students accused of being government collaborators. I was 8 years old, and I remember stepping over a dead body, warm blood flowing from a fresh wound. Dodging bullets while at market. I lived in the midsts of hate the likes of which most of you will never understand (Clinton and Bush hatred is nothing compared to that generated when people kill each other for politics or race or nationality). There's no way I could ever describe the ways this experience colors my worldview.

I'd say your original post describes it quite well, actually.

Back to Iraq, our men and women in uniform are there under orders, trying to make the best of an impossible situation. The war is not their fault, and I will always defend their honor and bravery to the end of my days.

Right. You "support the troop" but condemn the mission they're on. Nice.

I don't think it fools the soldiers.

Speaking of which:

But the mercenary is a whole different deal. They willingly enter a war zone, and do so because of the paycheck. They're not there for humanitarian reasons (I doubt they'd donate half their paycheck to the Red Cross or whatever). They're there because the money is DAMN good. They answer to no one except their CEO. They are dangerous, hence international efforts (however fruitless they may be) to ban their use.

Kos (and if you're in contact with Kos, do me a favor and make sure he sees this): Bullshit.

These were men who served the United States as soldiers for years; in at least two cases, they had been in Special Forces. They were professional soldiers, who'd devoted as much of their lives to learning the art and craft of soldiering as a doctor or a lawyer spent learning their professions.

So going overseas to train Iraqi police is a Good Thing when a soldier gets a tiny check from Uncle Sam - but once they get their check for doing the same job from a private company, suddenly it's the depth of immorality?

Put it another way: Prove these men were doing anything wrong, and by "wrong" I mean anything the larger world would consider wrong - not the pack of sycophants who clog your comment section.

So not only was I wrong to say I felt nothing over their deaths, I was lying. I felt way too much. Nobody deserves to die. But in the greater scheme of things, there are a lot of greater tragedies going on in Iraq (51 last month, plus countless civilians and Iraqi police). That those tragedies are essentially ignored these days is, ultimately, the greatest tragedy of all.

You Democrats have lots of practice ignoring soldiers.

Don't stop now, just because it's gotten you in trouble.

Posted by Mitch at April 2, 2004 11:54 AM