If leaders lied about Iraq war, they should face justice

December 11, 2005

Spectrum\Tommy Wright

A friend of mine recently wrote to me about several descriptions from soldiers who had been in Iraq. He was very upset at hearing of atrocities that were committed against Iraqi civilians, some unavoidable, others seemingly willful, and even, a few cases, with relish. The following letter was my response:

This sort of reckless killing happens in every war, most times for certain reasons, other times for no reason. It's just the nature of people and war. This buttresses my argument that, whenever and wherever the people who send military into war, knowing that the reasons for doing so are wrong or are based on lies and fabrications, should be tried as criminals.

Every soldier sees and does horrendous things that can't be justified by any reasonable person. But the conditions most of the time aren't reasonable.

Therefore, the participants don't (can't, sometimes, if they want to survive) act reasonably. We can't expect young men and women we send to war and put in morally compromising situations to be wise enough to know really what they are being asked to do.

In all these horrific circumstances, the one thing each participant relies on, takes some kind of comfort in, is that all the useless and outrageous horrors will pay off, in the end, with an overarching honorable cause. If this cannot be the case, after all the carnage, and it is found that the &#8220cause” was based on false premises, the result is devastating to the individuals involved.

The ghosts of guilt haunt these tortured souls years later, manifesting as suicides, alcoholism, drug addiction and mental disturbances as they begin to realize they took part in terrible things for senseless reasons.

They blame themselves for letting themselves be duped - for not speaking up - for not being more discerning.

The plain fact is they trusted the people over them, as well they should. The feeling of betrayal can be overpowering and all-consuming. After the initial hurt, the rage begins to take over. Anger is all that can be expressed.

If the Iraq war does, in fact, prove to have been based on lies, half-truths or manipulated intelligence, the people responsible need to be held accountable.

To willingly put people, usually very young men and women, in these positions of taking others' lives and putting their own lives in jeopardy, under terrible circumstances and under baseless and false reasons, is a crime that cannot and should not be forgiven.

The people responsible for these transgressions upon the souls of so many, on both sides, should be held accountable and consequences dispensed, i.e., the Nuremberg Trials after World War II.

&#8220Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. … Therefore, (individual citizens) have a duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.” The quote is from the Nuremberg Tribunal 1945-1946.

If trust is not a compelling enough reason to act honorably and truthfully, then maybe the fear of the consequences for not doing so will be. The men and women we put into the fight for our causes deserve nothing less.

Maybe next time, before our leaders decide to put our young people into these compromising situations and the severe consequences for erroneously doing so are known beforehand, they will make every effort to be absolutely sure, and without any doubts whatsoever, that what they would begin is right and is the absolute last resort.

Valley resident Tommy Wright is a retired teacher, Vietnam veteran and member of Veterans for Peace.