WE'RE CREATING MONSTERS

Rick Santorum said he wanted to "throw up" when he read JFK's speech about the separation of Church and State, and since I'm such a great supporter of Mr. S. I thought I'd use the same language in my response to the latest grisly news from Afghanistan. It likewise made me want to throw up. At around three o'clock in the morning while the village near Kandahar slept, sixteen innocent people were murdered at point blank range in cold blood. Most of them were women and children. Normally a rampage like this brings out the darkest side of most of us....who was the monster who did this?.....I hope this guy gets all that is coming to him...let's throw the book at him...Now somehow those feelings are here, but there's a twist.

About all we've heard about this staff sergeant is that he was married with two kids,,,and that he was on his fourth tour of duty, serving three times in Iraq.

Few of us can imagine what that could do to a young man..or woman. There is of course no possible excuse for this father killing innocent women and children...or is there? The soldiers in this ten year war are seeing their friends blown to bits, just as they were in that big lie in Iraq. They watch the people they are ostensibly fighting to protect burning the American flag, while the army they are supposed to be training often deserts, or even worse...turns on them and murders them from within.

Maybe our young men and women are committing these horribly shocking atrocities because of the traumatic events that are cementing their future mental health problems. Maybe saying goodbye to your wife and kids four times as you leave with no guarantee of ever seeing them again is sometimes more than someone can bear..especially when you're asked to risk your life repeatedly for people who appear to hate you. Maybe that's why otherwise wonderful people desecrate corpses, or burn something that they consider to be sacred, or blast through a doorway and just begin shooting.

I voted for Barrack Obama before, and I'll vote for him again, but I am not happy about his stance on this endless, pointless war. I'm sick of these puffed up generals and advisors with their chests covered with medals who keep talking about "completing the mission". Afghanistan is a mess of a corrupt country that will be no better after we finally leave. This war is causing good people to do horrible things. The soldier who killed these poor souls will be duly punished...his life is over as well. No excuses, no apologies will make this any better. God rest their souls, and God help the rest of us to end this war.