A soldier recounts, in (warning!) nasty language, the fun he had in the first Gulf war doing “evil” (his word). He cuts off his recounting of the glory days by saying “So much more, but I might open myself up for some kind of… war crimes investigation.” This account illustrates one of the disconnects that I find most unbelievable in the perceptions of the pro-war folks. Don’t they know the kind of young men and women that we’re sending out there? These are just a subset of the young Americans being churned out by the gov’t schools that we know all too well: stuck in adolescence well into their twenties (or beyond!) and without much of a moral compass. These are the “ambassadors” of democratic peace that the pro-war folks are relying on to bring to life their visions of innumerable Muslim democracies that love America and adopt its historic libertarian values. Do they really believe punks like this evil joker are going to do anything but alienate everyone they encounter abroad?

The Best of Stephen W. Carson