The Fog of War

THE FOG OF WAR

He marches in rhythmic step
Across a Country border
With his pack and weapon slung
In precise Military order.

He knows not why, he goes there
He is just doing as he is told
Following his mounted General

Who looks so proud and brave and bold.

The General knows not why he goes

But once given the Command
From those Politicians back at Home
He’ll march his Troops across the Land.

They would search out others of their ilk
Sometimes they will come face to face
With the same from “the other side”
Who wish them moved from that space.

The politicians would talk and debate
Though they knew not, of what they spoke
But they could say, “Well, we tried!”
Although all knew, that was a joke!

There might be something “over there”
That the opposite side thinks it needs
Maybe sometimes, land or riches
Or fear or merely, hatred’s bitter seeds.

The leaders of those Nations
Will say, “Peaceful options are all gone!”
And each one will point their finger
And blame it all on the other one.

But the Generals and their Soldiers
Who really don’t hate “the enemy”
Stand nose to nose and toes to toes
With weapons held, at the ready.

If no one blinks or turns away
Or says, “Let’s try to make things work.”
Then the awful truth about Mankind
And through the smoke from the battle

And above the screams of fear and pain
The sounds of the Soldier’s cadence
Is heard through the fog of War, again.

And then Parents will be grieving
Spouses will weep through the night
Politicians pat the children’s heads
And say, “Oh yes, this War is right!”

Then, eventually the fog will clear
And all might seem right and well
But too soon it will roll in, once more
To shroud us in our own man made hell.

There never seems to be a shortage
Of those Brave, young Souls
Who will put their Life on the line
For their Country’s or leader’s goals.

Most those who fight those Wars
Are from the common folk, mostly
For the Generals and Politicians
Sure don't want their kin to "see"!

And the “Old Soldiers” “fade” away
Their heads held proud and high
To that place where all Heroes go
Somewhere there, up in the sky.

"Christian Poetry In Rhyme"
©Del “Abe” Jones
6-22-2006

Anyone following the events of the last seven years has to remember the documentary, Fog of War, featuring the political, military, and personal life of Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The central themes of the documentary center around eleven lessons that McNamara discusses when dealing with conflict and human relations:

Empathize with your enemy.
Rationality will not save us.
There's something beyond one's self.
Maximize efficiency.
Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
Get the data.
Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
Be prepared to reexamine your reasoning.
In order to do good, you may have to engage in evil.
Never say never.
You can't change human nature.

McNamara shares ten additional "lessons:"

1. The human race will not eliminate war in this century but we can reduce war, the level of killing, by adhering to the principles of a just war, in particular of proportionality.
2. The indefinite combinations of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations.
3. We are the most powerful nation in the world — economically, politically, and militarily — and we are likely to remain so for decades ahead. But we are not omniscient. If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of the proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend the continental US, Alaska and Hawaii.
4. Moral principles are often ambiguous guides to foreign policy and defense policy, but surely we can agree that we should establish as a major goal of U.S. foreign policy and, indeed, of foreign policy across the globe : the avoidance in this century of the carnage — 160 million dead — caused by conflict in the 20th century.
5. We, the richest nation in the world, have failed in our responsibility to our own poor and to the disadvantaged across the world to help them advance their welfare in the most fundamental terms of nutrition, literacy, health, and employment.
6. Corporate executives must recognize there is no contradiction between a soft heart and a hard head. Of course, they have responsibilities to their employees, their customers and to society as a whole.
7. President Kennedy believed a primary responsibility of a president — indeed "the" primary responsibility of a president — is to keep the nation out of war, if at all possible.
8. War is a blunt instrument by which to settle disputes between or within nations, and economic sanctions are rarely effective. Therefore, we should build a system of jurisprudence based on the International Court — that the U.S. has refused to support — which would hold individuals responsible for crimes against humanity.
9. If we are to deal effectively with terrorists across the globe, we must develop a sense of empathy — I don't mean "sympathy" but rather "understanding" to counter their attacks on us and the Western World.
10. One of the greatest dangers we face today is the risk of mass destruction as a result of the breakdown of the Non-Proliferation Regime. We — the U.S. — are contributing to that breakdown.

Whether we agree with all of McNamara's warnings is beside the point. His warnings and suggestions are a guide that will help us minimize the risk of conflict.

Conflict and violence cannot be avoided. Criminal thinking cannot be eradicated from the personalities of ordinary and influential individuals, but its effects can be minimized through knowledge, understanding, dialog, and hard work. Some force may be necessary under the guidance of strict moral and practical principles, but all-out war and the wanton destruction of human life, the environment, and property, are never acceptable risks in any conflict.

We have become accustomed to the idea that our morality must "shift gears" in times of conflict; that somehow, murder becomes acceptable in war. It becomes a "necessary evil" (McNamara, by the way, accepts such a risk). Then, are we saying that human life is subservient to different causes? Are we implying that human life can be wasted in international conflict but killing in peacetime is a crime?

Then there is the other fog of war, the one perpetrated by those in power against all people to muddy the waters of perception to enable the execution of the plans for war. But that is a topic to follow.

Marilyn.