In the aftermath of the photographic evidence of American soldiers cutting off the ears of Afghan civilians they had killed, the homefront defenders of troops were quick to respond that “all of our soldiers are not evil.” I don’t like using the word “evil” very much, due largely to the hyperbolic energy it contains, and which can be used to condemn any action to which a speaker objects. But to my mind, men and women who are willing to go to foreign countries and, when ordered by their government, kill people with whom they otherwise have no dispute, are engaged in a fundamental evil. The evil lies not in the removal of body parts as souvenirs to impress their buddies — or their girlfriends back home — but in their willingness to become dehumanized killers for the state. Sadly, it may be that the many soldiers who have resorted to suicide were the ones who still listened to the moral voices within.

The Best of Butler Shaffer