I’m far too tired today to get into the secular shouting matches. Milbloggers are rightly outraged at the commentary of the Washington Post’s lead blogger for military affairs. Steam on over to memeorandum and check some of the links if you’re interested in getting an earful (eyeful?) of scathing invective.
All I have to add is that Merriam-Webster defines “mercenaryâ€:
one that serves merely for wages; especially : a soldier hired into foreign service
(emphasis mine) and “synecdoche†as
: a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (as fifty sail for fifty ships), the whole for a part (as society for high society), the species for the genus (as cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (as a creature for a man), or the name of the material for the thing made (as boards for stage)
and “fallacy†as
1 a obsolete : GUILE, TRICKERY b : deceptive appearance : DECEPTION
2 a : a false or mistaken ideafallacies> b : erroneous character : ERRONEOUSNESS
3 : an often plausible argument using false or invalid inference
It seems to me that the very many of those serving in our military who are serving for reasons of patriotism, responsibility, or any other reason than merely for wages are not unreasonable in being upset when the actions of a few are taken to represent them all and that Mr. Arkin is guilty of fallacy. Take your pick over which definition.
I’m also frustrated that so many people are busy analyzing the motives for Mr. Bush’s and others’ in our government’s criticism of Iran rather than the merits of the criticism. I believe it’s well within the Iranians ability to reduce the tensions in the situation and nearly beyond ours. Check out the bickering over Iran du jour.
We are now officially living out my worst nightmares of what would follow in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11, 2001. They were not that we would overreact to the attack nor underreact. I knew my countrymen well enough to believe that neither of those were likely. They were the divisions among us that are so obvious.
Some people may find recapitulations of their youth sources of joy and nostalgia. Not me.
As a veteran, I am still shocked and speechless by Arkin’s ignorant rant. I can’t compose myself to express my feelings of outrage at Arkin, but fortunately, someone has done it for me:
http://op-for.com/2007/01/fallen.html
Ah, but mercenaries, unlike drafted soldiers, can CHOSE what war they fight.
Am I mercenary because I treat people as a doc for pay?
The reason he hates soldiers is that like others from the baby boomers they think if no one would fight war, there would be no war. This is about as true as saying if there were no cops there would be no crime.
My take on it is houseman’s poem:
Epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries
These, in the day when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth’s foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky. suspended;
They stood, and earth’s foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.