by James Glaser
June 6, 2006

When talking about the deaths of innocent Iraqis, U.S. military spokesman Major Tim Keefe said, ""The loss of innocent life, especially children, is regrettable."

To me, being late with a Mother's Day card is regrettable. Missing a lunch date with a friend is regrettable. Killing a child is a horror. Major Keefe either has no understanding of how precious a child's life is, or the Major is hardened to the point that he just doesn't care.

I think that is the problem with our military in Iraq today. They no longer care. Too many tours, too many deaths, too hot, too scared, maybe too wasted.

Telegraph | News | Stressed US troops in Iraq 'turning to drugs'

Last July the British were writing about drug abuse by American troops in Iraq, while the American media has been almost silent on the subject. "Get high and kill," worked in Vietnam, and I guess it is working in Iraq too.

Try reading Marine's Wife Paints Portrait of US Troops Out of Control Haditha at,
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0605-02.htm

The marine unit involved in the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November had suffered a "total breakdown" in discipline and had drug and alcohol problems, according to the wife of one of the battalion's staff sergeants.

The allegations in Newsweek magazine contribute to an ever more disturbing portrait of embattled marines under high stress, some on their third tour of duty after ferocious door-to-door fighting in the Sunni insurgent strongholds of Falluja and Haditha.

All it takes to start getting things out of control in a combat zone is a callous attitude at the top. When the President says, "bring it on," the troops know they can do pretty much like they want. Add drugs and alcohol, your comrades blood, a few screams, and just one trooper pulling the trigger, and all hell can break lose.

We have lost this war. We are now on the way to losing our military. History does repeat itself. Drugs and lack of discipline made America pull our troops from Vietnam before our army totally fell apart. We stay in Iraq long enough and we will have to do the same. It is a waiting game, and we are not very good at those.

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