These guys are assholes
(click on title for link)
I've been thinking about signing up as a private security guy in Iraq. The main reasons not to, are of course, my appreciation of my life, and the cost of being a corporate tool in the most complete sense. To be honest though, the corporate tool thing isn't as clear cut as one might think. I am not some teen prone to gross over simplification so I will pass on the claim that being a soldier for the state is the same thing as being a soldier of fortune. I will just say that the division is not as clear as guys like me, like to think.
Look at how these Hizballah jerks are being used by their handlers. They are sent on some dumb ass mission to kidnap and kill some Israeli troops defending a border. They are not doing this because it will help their cause (does anyone think this will lead to the Islamification of Israel?). They are doing this because Syria needs the U.N off of it's ass for their involvement in the assassination of the ex-prime minister of Lebanon. My friend got killed by Hizballah for a similar reason--Syria wanted Israel of it's ass after an air force strike on one of its "freedom fighter" camps, so Hizballah sniped him. Whether you are serving your state, or Halliburton, you are ultimately just an expendable peace of meat. Your service, and your orders, may have nothing to do with your values or your interests. To paraphrase Mongo from Blazing Saddles, you are but a pawn on the chess board of life.
So yeah, while the soldier of fortune goes and fights for more money than the soldier of state (or the soldier of god in the case of Hizballah) all of them get dicked around by their commanders.
I would probably pay money to be at Gladiola right now, and I bet the same reasons I have for wanting to fight there (revenge, hatred, anger, etc.) are similar to what motivates the Hizbollah troops to engage in their stupid ass raids. Except I really don't share their allegiance to the will of Allah, but aside from that, is fighting for wealth so less noble than fighting for these reasons?
Perhaps I am being too critical: the article said some of these guys rode "scooters" across the border. Anyone who goes to war on a Scooter can't be all bad.
Shit. Reading Spinoza has turned me into a peace loving nerd. I guess I'd rather earn my money waiting tables for Palestinians than go fight Islamic militants in Iraq.
posted by Old Stallion at 10:20 AM
1 Comments:
i was going to make an observation that you will get more comments on your skeletor post than on this one, but robot marinara beat me to it.
your more seriously oriented posts (vs. comedy gold) are harder to talk about. it's easy for me to be flip or questionably clever but harder to say something pertinent or something i feel confident enough or educated enough to stand behind. those guys ARE assholes. people dying for no reason is fucked up and the fact that it won't ever stop is as well. i haven't had someone i know die in fighting, but it seems like the reasons for them being there and the reasons for the other guy being there sort of pale next the fact that a friend is dead. fuck that other guy whether he is there for god, money, or country. it doesn't seem like i would feel differently given the motivation of the other. if you got killed in iraq because you wanted more money, it would seem as unfair and stupid as if you were killed because you believed in america or god. there might be an idea somewhere that those motivations hold more honor, but you would still be dead and those things wouldn't make me feel better.
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