This was originally published as a letter to the editor of a local (now defunct) alternative paper in November of 2001. I still stand behind it , in fact after our subsequent invasion of Iraq, I find it more relevant – rlg:
I awoke Friday morning to the story of a five year old Afghani boy. On October 22, 2001, this child lost his parents to an American bomb. According the Sarah Chayes, the NPR reporter, the boy suffered wounds to his head, and “A potato-sized chunk of flesh is missing from his buttock”.
Tell me America, is this our pound of flesh?
Politicians and other military men will call this kind of tragedy unavoidable, they will label it “collateral damage” and move on. For me, the term is too immediate to reflect the horror this child has endured, or the anguish he will carry with him into adulthood.
Where will this child be in ten years? Learning to rebuild his shattered nation, or learning to build a bomb?
Will we still call it “collateral damage” when he drives a truck into a shopping mall, or releases a deadly plague into our subway system? If this chooses a peaceful path, will we then call it “collateral damage” when he teaches his children to mistrust and hate America?
For us, the bombing was accidental, an unavoidable statistic of war. Both sides will continue to exchange semantics over the legitimacy of the target. But this verbal exchange is not meant for, and will not reach, the children of Afghanistan. This child will be told but one thing, “the bomb was American”. The justness of our cause will not ease his pain, nor temper the hate we have cultured in his soul.
As a US Air Force retiree, I can directly attest to the accuracy, and the fallibility of our technology. I also stand proud and support the men and women who are risking their lives to execute the orders of our elected leaders. However, the use of military force, particularity air power, is not always the answer. It remains a blunt tool that is not well suited to every situation.
I believe, it is time for us to re-think our approach to this threat. It is time to learn from the history of this conflict, and break this cycle of pointless violence. It is time to practice our own ideals on a global scale; to restrain ourselves now, with an eye towards the future. It is time to save the lives of untold Afghani children, and perhaps the future of our own children as well.
Saturday, November 03, 2001
© 2001, 2007 by Rodney Gleghorn, All rights reserved.
