WHY DO WE DESERVE TO SURVIVE -- AN EXCHANGE!

WHY DO WE DESERVE TO SURVIVE -- AN EXCHANGE!

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© May 9, 2009

“War! That mad game the world so loves to play.”

Jonathan Swift

“He who makes war his profession cannot be otherwise than vicious. War makes thieves, and peace brings them to the gallows. War is a profession by which a man cannot live honorably; an employment by which the soldier if he would reap any profit, is obliged to be false, rapacious, and cruel.”

Machiavelli

“There never was a good war, or a bad peace.”

Benjamin Franklin

“All the talk of history is of nothing almost but fighting and killing, and the honor and renown which are bestowed on conquerors, who for the most part are mere butchers of mankind, mislead growing youth, who by these means, come to think slaughter the most laudable business of mankind, and the most heroic of virtues.”

John Locke

“War is an instrument entirely inefficient towards redressing wrong; and multiplies instead of indemnifying losses.”

Thomas Jefferson

“A great war leaves the country with three armies, an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves.”

German Proverb


REFERENCE:

An author and consultant friend shared with me his correspondence with an acquaintance and asked for me to consider making it a missive.

Reading his exchange, I thought of Erich Maria Remarque, the German novelist, who wrote the most powerful war novel I have ever read concerning World War I. It was titled in English “ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT” and in German IM WESTEN NICHTS NEUES. Remarque later came to the United States and became a naturalized American citizen.

Very few men of my generation escaped military service because the Selective Service Draft was on. We did not run off to Canada, or burn our draft cards as the next generation did, but we were still mainly reluctant warriors. God only knows what American society would be like today if the draft were still on.

Military training, which in many countries, remains compulsory does teach discipline, obedience to authority, and becoming regimented to a routine. It can also teach cruelty unintentionally by submitting its people to the most draconian of methods "to toughen them up."

I must confess I enjoyed my active duty in the US Navy, as there is a certain robotic consistency to my natural behavior. I am not into cruelty in any form and, fortunately, experienced none in my military service.

I end this piece with a brief note from a German friend, an executive colleague whom I worked with in Honeywell Europe, Ltd. out of Brussels in the late 1980s.

My German friend, only a boy was forced to fight on the Eastern Front for Germany in World War II, and survived.

In the US Navy in the late 1950s, my best friend in the navy was a German optometrist who escaped from Communist East Germany to the US only to be drafted into the US Navy. He escaped East Germany when the Berlin Wall was still a murder zone.

Wolfgang and I, both college graduates and hospital corpsman, were assigned to the US Marines when in 1957 Great Britain and France bombed the Suez Canal to stop shipping through it.

In battle gear and about to climb down the ropes into our landing ship tanks (LSTs) to invade Egypt at Port Said, President Eisenhower issued a “stand down.” We were in our early twenties. I thought that would be the end for me, while Wolfgang said, “Why can’t I escape war?”

* * *

A WRITER WRITES:

Jim,

Terry is an interesting, highly intelligent, but sadly radically conservative friend I've picked up in my travels. I copied you because I thought you'd find our dialogue a good jumping-off point for your own missives. I wish you lived down here, so you could join us for our Friday morning breakfasts!

Ted

TERRY WRITES TO TED

Ted,

For those of you who haven't been in the Marine Corps as I have, you might be shocked to learn how naive the "liberals" are these days. What follows should be required reading for everyone in this country.

Unfortunately, only Marines would understand what it really means.

A MARINE CONFESSES HE WITNESSED TORTURE

My fellow veterans please forgive me. But I must purge my soul. I only ask that you reserve judgment until you read this. I only want peace for all and a world free of torture.

What I saw in the military was much worse than water boarding. The prisoners were taken to a 12-foot deep pool with their feet weighted and then forced into the pool. Those who hesitated were moved onto a plank high above the pool and forced off. They were to stay in this deep water for over an hour with their feet weighted down and in full clothing.

Those who touched the side of the pool had their fingers stepped on by angry guards. Not enough to break their fingers as that would reveal this terrible secret but just enough to inflect severe pain without detectable injury. The guards knew their craft well.

Like water boarding, the prisoners were not allowed to drown. No, that would expose the cover-up. It gets worse!

I must tell all! They were then taken to a wooden building far from the main complex. A lantern like device burned in the middle of the building. It gave off a horrible gas. The prisoners were forced to run around the lantern without the benefit of the gas masks worn by the guards and sing in their native language their country’s patriotic songs.

I saw them with my own eyes as they were finally released from the windowless building: eyes red, mucus flowing uncontrollably from their mouths and noses. Some looked near death.

A spec of humanity prevailed as they were allowed to recover for several minutes before being taken to the bleachers. About one hundred of them were taken to the bleachers. They were not restrained, no that would blow this horrible trick. The bleachers were located in a bug-infested marsh.

Those prisoners who moved their hands in any effort to ward of the flying bugs were severely punished. Mockingly, the guards in the native language of the prisoners said, “these bugs have to eat too.”

The guard threw a dud hand grenade into the helpless group. He laughed as they scattered in terror. The prisoners were reassembled and prepared for more.

I saw one prisoner taken out of the line up with his shorts on backwards. Horrible sexual innuendos and insults were directed at him. I saw a tear roll down his cheek.

The prisoners were United States Marine recruits the “torture” described above was part of our training. The guards were drill instructors. The above is why we shake our heads in disbelief when water boarding, bugs, and loud music are described as torture by the mainstream press.The above prepared us for combat so that fair-weather pacifists can stand on our street corners only in the best of weather.

God forbid, they should be out in the cold or even worse the rain, as that would resemble water boarding.

Terry


TED WRITES TERRY:

Terry,

When you sign up for an elite military unit, you know that the grueling training you undergo is your choice, you're proud of yourself, and you know that your "tormentors" aren't going to kill you (except, sadly, by accident). You also have the pride of knowing that undergoing this treatment is making your country - and by implication your family - safer.

By the way, I'm actually a hawk, not a pacifist. And John Wayne is my iconic Hollywood hero. My Dad was a drill sergeant in the Army and just missed combat in WWII when he was 18 - just missed it because, as he was gearing up for the invasion of the home islands of Japan, Truman saved his life (and a million other solders' lives) by dropping the bombs. Thank you, Mr. President.

I keep waiting for someone in the political realm to use the symbolism the whole world will understand right away: America is the white-hat country. We don't torture. That's what Mao, Stalin, and Hitler did. We're the good guys. It's what makes us worth saving as a society.

I don't want our country to win this battle of existence with the Muslim extremists of Al Qaida, etc. merely because we are stronger than they. I want us to win because morally, we deserve to win. Because we're better than they in an entirely morally, objective way.

If we continue to embrace torture, why would we deserve to survive? We'd be debasing ourselves, bringing ourselves down to their level.

(You're going to inspire me to start a political blog if you're not careful....)

Ted


DR. FISHER RESPONDS:

Ted,

It may surprise you but I have little use for John Wayne. He protected his career making war movies while his peers went into service and fought in W.W.II. Garry Wills wrote a powerful book, "John Wayne's America," which I quoted from in my last missive .

And we do torture, have tortured, and probably will continue to torture. The military of all ideologies behaves inhumanly when at war, or in a paranoid state.

Moreover, I am not a hawk, mainly, because wars are started and sustained by corpocracy under several different names since the beginning of history. Kings have used war to expand their territory when the party line was to convert the infidels.

Man never changes, only the weapons he uses grow more sophisticated. I've always thought how wonderful it would be if the weapons didn't change, but man grew more sophisticated and mature, but, alas, that is not likely to happen.

Look at the history of capitalism and you will see it has profited greatly by war at the expense of collateral damage it caused. Today we are allies with China, twenty-five or fifty years from now, we will be at war with China. It is as inevitable as the sun rising and setting. Why? Because what I've said above.

You wouldn't have copied me if you didn't want my views. I respect yours but differ with them.

Be always well,

Jim

PS As for survival, a young person feels immortal and has an insouciance about life, that is, until it is in jeopardy. The United States has always behaved like that youth, and has continued to so behave because it has not had to pay the consequences. They are coming due. Time will tell if only too late to be smart.
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A GERMAN FRIEND REPLIES TO MY REMARKS:

Jim,

From my experience I can say in a war there is no humanity whatsoever and no rules are observed other than to survive.

But people coming back from a war - whether victorious or defeated - will become the most pronounced opponents to any bellicose conflict. They know the outrageous impact to innocent people. Since my warrior days as a meer child, I have never touched a weapon again and hopefully will never have to do so in my life. And certainly one cannot call me a coward.

Take care,

Manfred

A FINAL WORD:

Indeed, Manfred by the accident of his birth and the times has lived through what Remarque's novel describes only in the Second World War.

I have edited the US Marines communiqué somewhat but have allowed “bleachers” to remain not knowing whether he meant “beaches.” I spent my military with marines as a hospital corpsman, and many of my acquaintances throughout my life have been ex-marines. I know Terry does not exaggerate the rigors of marine training.

One of my friends in marine boot camp on bivouac took off his helmet because he was so hot, and his drill instructor hit him on the head with the butt of his rifle so hard it gave him a concussion and put him in the hospital for three weeks.

What I left out when describing the possible invasion of Port Said, Egypt was the marines to a man with whom Wolgang and I were with were disappointed. They wanted to “kick ass” because they were trained to do so.
JRF