It appears that in the Army of Looking Out for Number One, “honor” now has approximately the same meaning as “cover my bureaucratic ass.”
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September 27, 2005
WB: Men of Honor
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Men of Honor, and
The Guilt-Free Soldier
or “Breeding sociopaths for freedom”!
“It’s the morning-after pill for just about anything that produces regret, remorse, pain, or guilt,” says Dr. Leon Kass, chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics, who emphasizes that he’s speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the council.
Barry Romo, a national coordinator for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, is even more blunt. “That’s the devil pill,” he says. “That’s the monster pill, the anti-morality pill. That’s the pill that can make men and women do anything and think they can get away with it. Even if it doesn’t work, what’s scary is that a young soldier could believe it will.”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Sep 27 2005 7:18 utc | 1
I can’t wait until they’re unleashed back in US civilian life.
Posted by: Lupin | Sep 27 2005 9:56 utc | 2
In an intifadah, soldiers must be unafraid to shoot anyone,
at any time, at 500 rounds per second. Ask the Israeli kids.
There are plenty of psychotropic drugs to help you forget.
Now if only we could instill that “guilt-free” soldiership
in the readers of dKos and Billmon. As a friend of mine said,
“If this is a war of the classes, we’d all be dead by now.”
Posted by: tante aime | Sep 27 2005 14:23 utc | 4
all these drug commercials are just the warm up. when my son came home from 1st grade and told me ronald macdonald had come into his classroom to talk to them about ‘just say no’ i was bowled over. meanwhile we’re passing out extra funds to schools for every ‘trouble child’
on ritalin. portions of the population that have never know anything but an altered state, the land of soma has arrived.
it’s guilt and remorse that forces me to confront myself on a sometimes daily basis.and i’m not even killing people. the scariest thing about solidiers on drugs is these kids in the military, many of them, so fresh they have no idea what they’re getting into. all full of spit and vigor plucked from the heartland just clay for those in power.
Posted by: annie | Sep 27 2005 15:46 utc | 6
Wars are hell. Although mankind gets use to just about anything, danger and seeing your buddies blown apart messes up the natural hormonal brain drugs that have you convinced that you are something special and will live forever.
At the local American Legion Hall, Vietnam Vets were losers who whined all the time about what they went through. WWII Vets were the silent heros. But, In a NewsHour interview, OUR FATHERS’ WAR, Tom Mathews recounted about when his father ‘leaned over and a great convulsion came up within him, and he broke into tears, and he said, “I killed so many people. My God, I killed so many people.” And then he sobbed for just a minute, caught himself, and said, “I’ve never said that to anyone. I’ve never said that to myself.” And the secret came out, the code was cracked, and after that, we were able to talk and it transformed our lives.’
Current leaders consider that draftees add no value to the military. I have had no contact with the US Army in 34 years, but what went wrong in Iraq is a combination of careerism, “don’t screw your future contractor’s job”, religion “we’re going to kick some Muslim ass”, and ideology “privatization with a small fast strike Army”. Without draftees to protest, the lifers screwed up Iraq royally. Now the grunts are paying the price and news articles indicate that they can’t report their psychological problems cause it will kill their career track.
Posted by: Jim S | Sep 27 2005 16:07 utc | 7
Interesting article here. German soldier refused to carry out order and ramifications led to German Federal Administrative Court finding US invasion was illegal.
My point in mentioning this here is that there is an option to being a part of torture… one can refuse.
Posted by: Anonymous | Sep 27 2005 16:13 utc | 8
A bit OT
Progress in Iraq Suicide Bomber Penetrates Baghdad’s Green Zone
A car bomber penetrated the heavily fortified Green Zone in the center of the capital on Tuesday, but was detained by U.S. Marines at an internal checkpoint before he was able to detonate the vehicle, the military said.
The Guilt free Soldier
What fresh hell is this?
Not just our corporations but our people will try to be motivated only for the next quarter, or the next dispensary visit.
There is some comfort, though, to find that it is not possible to be drugged up and pimped out but still in charge of things.
Aside from the inspiring spectacle of pResident Bosh, our economy may express this best – witness this NYT article on how even the sacred military procurement can no longer be done by this demoralized economy. Not a new story, but a change during my lifetime.
3 centuries ago in Japan, this sort of shift went along with a Halliburton style roaring economy, followed by drastic loss of governmental ability to call the tune.
But I disagree with Lupin – I am not looking forward to generations of people who act like corporations.
Posted by: citizen | Sep 27 2005 17:04 utc | 11
Progress: In WWII only some 25% of the soldiers would shoot to kill someone. Viet Nam, 85%. Iraq, 100%
Posted by: ken melvin | Sep 27 2005 17:40 utc | 12
Which is the larger insanity? Trying to design a ‘guilt-free’ pill to free soldiers from the burden of war’s consequences or imagining that such a remedy could possibly ‘work’?
If this medication does inhibit guilt thereby reducing anxiety and promoting a feeling of wellbeing how long will it be before it is adopted by those desperate to avoid life’s consequences and becomes another banned substance. Virtually every popular drug of abuse from morphine to methamohetamine started out as some’wonder drug’ to solve society’s problems often those that occurred as a consequence of war. ie Painkilling (morphine and heroin) or disinhibition leading to courage (methamphetamine, dexamphetamine).
But of course the major problem is that the effect of drugs wear off so the user is then left with a choice. Stop taking the drug then be overcome with guilt, or continue taking it despite any ill-effect that long term usage may have. I think we know which is the generally favoured option.
Posted by: Debs is dead | Sep 27 2005 21:18 utc | 13
But that explains everything. Clinical trials have been going on now for 5 years. Every Republican in America has been part of the trial, and none of them have been getting placebos.
Posted by: the exile | Sep 28 2005 1:42 utc | 15