Soldiers in Sudan raped women and girls and burned them alive in their dwellings, reports the UN Mission in South Sudan. This is nothing new. Soldiers have done this for centuries. I remember that some American soldiers committed rape in Iraq, and then killed and burned the victim to destroy the evidence. And no wonder, for a line in an old Army cadence says: “Rape and pillage burn the village! Yes we can!” And no wonder, General Sherman’s soldiers were a raping, looting, plundering, murdering, and house-burning army of Northern aggression. Being a soldier is not like having any other occupation. Being a soldier sometimes means that you are a murderer if you kill the “enemy” in an unjust war.

The Best of Laurence M. Vance