Sites for Sore Whys

Earlier I linked to Kevin Sites place because he had some interesting photos of Iraq and because I found the link at a place I trusted. I even blog rolled him. That has been corrected.

Well I'm over at LGF and I learn this guy is no friend of our troops. Here is just a bit of what he has to say talking about a commander in the field:

He has a reputation for being one of the most aggressive commanders in the theatre -- and if things goes well here, he likely get his first general's star.

"I have a military problem here and I'm applying a military solution," he says with complete confidence. "Our adversaries are not militarily effective. They are mercenaries, terrorists and pirates and they will be defeated."

I understand the logic of his reasoning, can identify with his belief system, share a cultural and communications bond with his American soldiers that I live amongst -- even find myself nodding and talking weapons hardware like some beltway think tank geek.

Betrayal

So in some ways, embedded in this unit, I begin to feel I've betrayed the people that depend on me to be skeptical; to question the dominant powers and institutions of my nation and the actions it undertakes in the name of its citizens. I am not a military or American cheerleader, not a mouthpiece signed on to some institutional agenda whether I believe in it or not. I am here to ask the hard questions of the people who make the hardest decisions; ones that result in people dying or people being killed. I must remember as one journalist advised, "write in your notepad every day 'I am not one of them.'"

It is very good to have such as him on the battlefield although they ought to be in the minority. We need to see this live. Up close. And personal.