Monday, January 23, 2012

Iraq, Afghan Wars Put Cracks in US Society

Fighting at several fronts simultaneously always results in what the Western, particularly US, forces are suffering these days. While trying to overawe the world with their power, the US policy makers forget that if the victims of wars are humans on one hand; on the other, those who kill are also humans in the end.
Conspiracies and Controversies
How strong the killer can be mentally and how brutal he can be, is evidently manifest from the US wars and conspiracies in Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions of the world. He who kills also has a heart under his ribs. He sees youths, aged ones and specially women soaked in blood with the burst of bullets from his own gun.
At such occasions the victim is recoiling for his life and the enemy cannot do anything for him despite wanting to. Then, when a solitary moment invades the killer and he falls into speech with himself, his conscience riddles him with numberless questions. He finds excuses for what he has done but his conscience, rejecting all these excuses one after the other, renders him answerless and hounds him day and night. Consequently, he has no other option but to kill himself or to kill the one who forced him to do so.
That is why things are happening in the US Army which had never been expected. For instance, last year, 128 US soldiers committed suicide and we hear that this number is expected to rise this year. In addition to the suicides, we have also had the incident of Fort Hood, military base in Texas. In this incident, Major Nidal Malik suddenly opened fire and killed his 12 colleagues, injuring several others. After this incident, President Obama had to lower the US flag in mourning.
Fears and Psychological Problems
According to the available information, Major Nidal was a Palestinian; however, he was born and bred in the United States. Contrary to the wishes of his parents, he joined US Army. He was a psychiatrist in the Army. He specially treated the soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. The soldiers returning from war are victim to different fears and psychological problems. It is said that he was also being harassed because he was of Palestinian origin. This time around, the decision had been taken to send him to Iraq; however, he did not want to go there. We cannot rule out the possibility that he was horrified by the likely scenes of the killing of the Muslims before his very eyes or at the hands of the foreign troops, as he was a Muslim.
According to his cousin, Nadir Hasan, Nidal had also been trying to get rid of the Army; he had also acquired the services of military attorney and was willing to return the entire salaries he had received during his service. Responding to question by Fox News, K Billy Jason, senator from Texas, expressed the view: "It is not that Nidal was fed up with the Army's service. I think, his appointed in the war-hit areas had horrified him." However, rejecting this view, Nadir Hasan told CNN that it was not so at all. He also told that Nidal had never been a violent person.
Suicides and Incidents of Violence
Several commanders of the US Army admit that fact that the suicides and incidents of violence in the Army are a result of the stress and revulsion which the more than one appointments of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are engendering. General Peter W Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the US Army, calls this Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which has spread through the soldiers, as a wound from the war. This disease is a painful mixture of anxiety and revulsion. He has requested his commanders to take this matter seriously and not to taunt any soldier who may be victim to this disease for being weak.
It is to be noted here that, after 2008, the percentage of PTSD and psychological shock among the US troops present in Iraq and Afghanistan has reached 58 percent. These statistics have been released by the US Army itself. According to these statistics, 30 percent military men are those who may not be complete victims to PTSD but they do bear sings of this disease.
Expressing concern over the rising number of victims of this disease, Admiral Michael Mullen, too, admits that Pentagon is considering different ways to deal with this problem. Michael Mullen has said last week that several soldiers, who are victim to this or a similar disorder, either do not go to their doctors or keep their symptoms secret, as they fear that if this secret is divulged, their careers will be affected. He assured them that this disorder is temporary and they can get rid of it or can minimize its effects with instant treatment.
The relatives of the soldiers sent on these wars have become another problem for the US Administration. Very often they glow with rage; particularly, their wives take it out on the officers of their husbands for sending them to war as many as six times. Even when they are here, they are forced to take constant training, they complain. They are not given as much time as they could talk us.
The ex-military men of the United States are also extremely concerned over this matter. They say that because of the irregularities of Iraq war after 2007, the Army is on the verge of disintegrating; however, the military commanders say that they have started to relieve the soldiers' mental stress, as they are now allowed opportunities to give more time to their homes.
The Afghan war is in its ninth year now; while, considering the condition of the US Army in Iraq, the question of the US image has divided its society. Very likely, these wars had affected Major Nidal Malik mentally.
Colonel Terry Lee, a colleague of Nidal, told Fox News that Nidal had been anxious over US Army's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had hoped that President Obama will stop these wars and withdraw the forces; however, when his hope was reduced to disappointment, he grew more anxious and frustrated. He further said that Nidal would never hide his ideas about these wars.
Media and Psychological Tactics
When we look at this situation, it becomes obvious that it is not the rest of the world alone that believes that the United States has no excuse for these wars, but the majority of the American society and the US troops, who have been made fuel for these wars, too, believe the same. They are being forced into hell against their will. As regards forcing wars on both these countries, the heads of the United States and the United Kingdom have tried to build a wall on the foundation of lies. They had believed that using their media and psychological tactics they will lend credibility to this wall.
However, this idea of theirs is turning out to be a mere illusion. These wars have not only put cracks in the American society but have also reduced its Army to a crowd of psychiatric patients. It is about time that the US policy makers and President Obama took popular decisions.

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