The business of war - profit and loss as a higher moral value

oh, man... although he's writing in the context of the the likely suicide death of Col. Ted Westhusing in Baghdad, arthur cuts right to the heart of not only iraq but also of the soul-deadening that has been taking place in this country for a very long time... money and stuff, thanks to the very hard work of those who profit the most from it, have replaced truth, meaning, and noble higher purpose...

Life and death, torture, suffering, unendurable loss and agony -- it's all a matter of profit and loss. Anything that improves the bottom line is permitted -- even the slaughter of innocents. We are a nation of mercenaries -- and we have lost our soul, perhaps for good. Col. Westhusing finally concluded that honor was no longer possible, and he saw no way to stop the horror. Do you wonder at what he did? We created a situation where he felt he no longer had any meaningful choices -- but he refused to give up his conviction that you do "the right thing because it was the right thing to do."

And yet, we insist on finding fault with him. How did we reach such a dark and terrible place?

So I must respectfully disagree with Col. Westhusing's wife in one respect. Iraq didn't kill her husband.

Bush and all those who support this unnecessary, illegitimate and immoral war killed him. It is a war that can only be fought by immoral means, since it is completely sundered from any moral foundation.

And if you supported and still support this war, you helped to kill him.

How much longer are we going to permit this to go on? A year? Two years? Five years? How many more people have to die? How many more people will lose their sight, or their legs, or their minds? Why aren't we marching in the streets to end this madness?

I despair for my country. We tolerate all these horrors, and we barely protest. I think we are beyond forgiveness now. Forgiveness is not possible for what we have let ourselves become.

yes, indeed... "How did we reach such a dark and terrible place?"

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