Murder Decorated With Medals
Recently
by Laurence M. Vance: Hero
or Murderer?
“Murder
decorated with a ribbon is still murder.” ~ Emmanuel Charles
McCarthy
In my previous
article (“Hero
or Murderer?“) I said that a soldier from a country thousands
of miles away who travels to the United States and kills Americans
is a murderer. But I also said that American soldiers who do the
same thing are not heroes but murderers. I said that foreign soldiers
should not be excused no matter who told them to go or why they
went. But I also said that American soldiers should not be excused
either.
Aside from
a few comments that said I was “filled with hate” or “a
totally f**ked up anti-American,” I received a few sincere
inquiries about my statement that we shouldn’t excuse foreign soldiers
because they were drafted.
So, what if
a soldier is drafted? Should we hold draftees to the same standard
as those who voluntarily enlist? Are conscripts not accountable
or less accountable than those who sent them to war? Can we hold
soldiers responsible for actions done under fear of punishment,
imprisonment, or death? A few brief thoughts.
First of all,
when people raise the issue of soldiers being drafted, it is usually
in the context of excusing American soldiers from killing in unjust
wars. Conscripted foreign fighters are rarely accorded the same
consideration. And no wonder, for no one wants to be seen as excusing
Nazi atrocities. But murder is still murder. If it is murder when
foreign soldiers do it, then it is murder when American soldiers
do it.
Second, the
draft ended in the United States in 1973. Since murder is still
murder, hypothetical questions about the draft are irrelevant when
U.S. troops have been fighting in Afghanistan longer than they fought
in World War II. The chances of the draft being reinstituted are
next to nothing, despite the efforts
of Senator Charles Rangel, who wants to not only reinstate the
draft, but include women in it as well. And besides, no draft is
needed. All the branches of the armed forces have met their enlistment
quotas for several years now. There is no shortage of Americans
willing to invade, occupy, and kill for the state should they be
told to do so once in the military.
Third, I certainly
agree with those who say we should blame the president, the politicians,
the ruling class, the neoconservatives, the Joint Chiefs, the military
brass, the defense contractors, and the Congress for sending U.S.
soldiers to fight unjust foreign wars, as if a foreign war could
be just. But draft or no draft, I have nothing but contempt for
the architects of U.S. foreign wars, the presidents who instigate
or continue these wars, the neocons who welcome these wars, the
liberals who defend these wars (when a Democratic president is conducting
them), the conservatives who defend these wars (when a Republican
president is conducting them), the military officers who use these
wars to advance their careers while not actually doing any fighting
themselves, the Congressmen who vote to fund these wars, the defense
contractors who profit from these wars, and the Christians who pray
for the troops in these wars. They are all moral monsters, and are
accomplices
to murder. But that doesn’t change that fact that since murder
is still murder, soldiers who do the actual killing are still murderers.
Fourth, if
your family were on the receiving end of foreign troops bombing,
shooting, maiming, and killing, would it matter to you if they were
drafted? Does it make the death of your family less horrible? Would
it be comforting to know that the killers of your family were drafted?
I don’t think so. Murder is still murder. The question, then, is
why are Americans so quick to excuse U.S. soldiers should they be
drafted? How do you think foreigners feel that lose family members
because of U.S. bombs and bullets?
Fifth, if the
U.S. government drafted someone into the military, told him to kill
your father, and he did it, would you feel sorry for him because
he was drafted? Would you try to find excuses for his actions? Again,
I don’t think so. Murder is still murder. And again, why are Americans
so quick to excuse U.S. soldiers should they travel overseas to
kill someone else’s father just because they were drafted?
Sixth, consider
the following scenarios? What would your response be if representatives
of the U.S. government, members of the Bloods or the Crips, a policeman,
or just some individual puts a gun in your hand and tells you to
kill a member of your family? I can’t imagine anyone who would do
it. But what if one of the same groups or individuals puts a gun
in your hand and tells you to kill some other American that you
didn’t know? I still have a hard time imagining anyone actually
doing it. But what if in each instance you had a gun to your head
and were told to kill or be killed? I would like to think that most
everyone would take a bullet to the head rather than kill a member
of his own family. I’m not so sure, however, what would happen in
the latter case. But since murder is still murder, the proper moral
response would be to do what was right and suffer the consequences;
that is, to take the bullet. Now, I said all that to say this. What
would the proper moral response be if someone were to be drafted,
given a uniform, handed a gun, sent to fight in an unjust conflict,
and put in a situation where he must kill or be killed? I say to
take the bullet. But really, it doesn’t have to go this far. The
draft can be opposed. The uniform can be torn up. The gun can be
thrown away. The trip overseas can be refused. But if all of this
resistance comes to naught, then the proper moral response is, again,
to take the bullet. Does wearing a uniform, traveling to another
country, killing someone you don’t know, or committing murder because
you are threatened with death make murder not murder?
And seventh,
if murder is still murder and fighting in an unjust war is criminal,
then soldiers who participate in it are war criminals and murderers.
The real military heroes are those who refuse to kill for the state
in immoral, unjust wars, not those who become decorated war heroes.
As Emmanuel Charles McCarthy has also said: “There is no such
thing as heroism in the execution of evil.”
Murder is still
murder.
February
21, 2013
Laurence
M. Vance [send him mail]
writes from central Florida. He is the author of Christianity
and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State, The
Revolution that Wasn’t, Rethinking
the Good War, and The
Quatercentenary of the King James Bible. His latest book
is The
War on Drugs Is a War on Freedom. Visit his
website.
Copyright
© 2013 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in
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