PunkAssBlog.com

American troops in Iraq have killed a lot of people — some on purpose, some on accident. Anti-war voices can, must, and do emphasize the incalculable enormity of the tragedies our war policy has inflicted on the dead and their families. But we should also remember that state-sponsored murder doesn’t just produce victims. It also produces killers.

Take the case of the Idaho pilots who accidently gunned down a British soldier in 2003 after being told no friendlies were in the area. Now that one of the pilots’ identities has been revealed by the British tabloids, their story is starting to come to light. And it should sicken anyone who claims to support our troops by asking them to kill:

Two Idaho Air National Guard pilots involved in the death of a British soldier in Iraq are still troubled by the friendly fire incident nearly four years later, a general who oversees their fighter wing said.

“There’s not a day goes by that the pilots involved in this particular instance don’t think about this, and that’s something that they will live with and deal with the rest of their lives,” Brig. Gen. Gary L. Sayler told The Associated Press on Thursday.

And yet they’re still part of the fighting. We’re asking them to kill again. For what?

Like any large group, amongst soldiers you’ll find every type of psyche. Some probably live to kill. Some would have no trouble dismissing this mistake (or any other) as the cost of business. But I’d wager the majority of young men and women we send into Iraq will be forever tortured by the blood on their hands. Whether that blood belongs to insurgents, friendlies, or innocents, drawing it will take a heavy toll on many souls.

Two years ago, over 12,000 troops had already been treated for post traumatic stress disorder. They report experiences like those of Jesus Bocanegra:

“I had real bad flashbacks. I couldn’t control them,” Bocanegra, 23, says. “I saw the murder of children, women. It was just horrible for anyone to experience.”

I can’t imagine having to kill someone I don’t know under orders from somebody else for a cause this empty. By the sound of it, most of our soldiers can’t either.

Thanks for all the troop support, wingnuts. I’m sure our distraught soldiers and their unhappy families appreciate the efficiency of your murderer factory.