Baghdad Burning

Thought I'd post the link to one of the blogs I regularly read - the Baghdad Burning blog. While I don't agree with her views, it's still nice to get an Iraqi's perspective.

But here's my war pitch - the reality is that as much as people say they don't want America to interfere, they really want to criticize the US. Look at Rwanda or Sudan - people cried that the US had blood on their hands to not doing enough to prevent the massacre of innocent lives! The reality is when you are your big brother, you sometimes have to protect your lil bro from bullies, even if he doesn't want it.

Have there been American excesses? Sure there have. The reality is that no army in the world can complete a mililary mission without collateral damage... no, let me not use that euphemism - death ... innocent lives! It's easy for us to sit back on our smooth asses and judge how military forces are doing, but we don't walk the corner thinking our balls are going to blown off, a bullet's gonna end it and the like.

When I was an undergrad working in a research lab, I had the opportunity to interact with an Indian captain who had been commandeering troops against an insurgency in Kashmir before he came back for grad school. His accounts were incredible, and his honesty in acknowledging that it's hard to always be rational after so many near-death exercises refreshing. It's part of why I would hate to second guess troops or even law enforcement officers sitting back on our cushy couchs sipping warm Starbucks coffee!