I am afraid that this blog will mostly be a rant... maybe I will try to alternate.

So my old father (aka Geeze) sent me a review of a pretty interesting and disturbing book:

HOME FRONT
The Government's War on Soldiers
by
Rick Anderson
Foreword by FRANCIS A. BOYLE
ISBN: 0-932863-41-8

Among other disturbing statistics, it points out that although only 148 soldiers were killed in the 1991 Gulf War 11,000 have died since. These casualty rates are due to a mix of problems which don't include old-age. Apparently military personnel are frequently not provided with adequate medical treatment during and especially after wars. They are sometimes even used as guinea pigs for testing new medicines which sometimes cause horrible problems. Who knows what the long term consequences of our current *operations* will be. Maybe 20,000 or 30,000?
Now, I am generally not pro-war by any means, but I am even less in favor of treating people as disposable resources. I've noticed that it is in vogue to refer to a soldier as a "troop" lately. Maybe this is due to the women in the military thing, but it comes across as if they are a small version of a humvee or something. It seems to me that even if we put someone in camouflage, have them do a lot of push ups, and give them a gun, they are still human. Or am I missing something here? Various futurists have claimed that someday wars will be fought with robots. This won't be the case. The reality is that our leaders already view each "troop" as a cheap disposable robot. Why go to the expense of fixing them when more will roll off the assembly line at any moment?
Anyway, follow these links for reviews of this book:
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/print.asp?ID=1904
http://www.bookmasters.com/clarity/b0025.htm
Maybe buy it? I don't know, perhaps something more potent than yellow ribbons is in order. Maybe we shouldn't commit ourselves to a war if we are not willing to support those who we send to fight it?
At this point, we probably all know someone who is in, is going, or might go to Iraq. Are these people disposable to you?