Among the first dead U.S. soldiers this week is this Minnesota mother of two. Her children, grades 4 and 12, will never again see their mom, dying violently.
Yet somehow, we’ve become conditioned to this kind of U.S. military activity—and the repercussions of it.
In response to several different social media posts announcing Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor’s death, comments immediately poured in:
“Her life was laid down so that others may live.”
“We owe you all of our freedoms.”
“A grateful nation honors her life, her service, and her sacrifice.”
Sgt. Amor certainly deserves respect and honor, and her family all the love and prayers for their indescribable loss. Yet the rapid, automatic nature of these replies gave me an uneasy feeling as I perceived a group belief—a misaligned patriotic obedience perhaps—that enables this military aggression and these tragic deaths to continue.
I know they are accepted sentiments to offer a late soldier, but do mainstream conservatives really believe them?
How does deposing a faraway political leader makes us safer?
How does deploying vast amounts of our finite resources into this war help people here in America?
And how does this mission relate to a soldier’s (and the President’s) oath to defend the Constitution? Did Iran’s leader threaten our Constitution?
Do conservatives not remember a similar situation playing out a generation ago?
using our military to “liberate a people”
doing so over a brief (and then broken) proposed timeline
with many at home rationalizing that “the world is better off” with a tyrant no longer in charge of this faraway land
Does this situation phase mainstream conservatives who elected a man just over a year ago on promises of NOT going to war with Iran?
“I can say that you will not go to war with Iran if I am President,” Trump said on just one of several occasions while campaigning.
To see this total about-face within a short time, on a matter of such importance!
This wasn’t a flip-flop on whether to lock the clock on Standard or Daylight Savings Time. It was a complete reversal on something with many lives and the spirit of nations in the balance—something that motivated many to cast their vote for the current President.
It’s been deflating seeing the one who was supposed to buck this trend of foreign aggression become corrupted into supporting it. Maybe this speaks to an unrealistic hope that I could separate myself from the achingly unjust bloodshed—a national ache that seems to be overlooked by just about everyone.
When foreign leaders are abusing their citizens, it’s an awful truth that I, as an American, have no hand in. It’s just one of the many injustices in the world I’m powerless to stop. But when the U.S. becomes involved, now atrocities connected to the U.S. are connected to each American.
On the first day of this conflict, bombs hit an Iranian school causing the deaths of over 100 pre-adolescent girls. The painful, obvious truth is that we taxpayers literally contributed to killing these girls. It may have happened thousands of miles away; it may be a contribution of a tiny fraction of a penny when diluted amongst the millions of taxpayers; it may be rationalized 100 ways. But it’s a connection—a culpability for military atrocities heaped upon the shoulders of their citizens’ consciences.
For leaders to so thoughtlessly expose so many people to this guilt. What gives them the right to force my participation in this slaughter?
And it continues today and probably for many, many more. The U.S. is now part of bombing hospitals—at least 13 health facilities across Iran having been struck according to the World Health Organization, forcing the evacuation of patients, including newborns in incubators.
This is dark stuff.
In what seems like a reflection of this darkness, President Trump, when speaking about Sgt. Amor and other soldiers’ deaths, said plainly that “there will likely be more before it ends. That’s the way it is.”
That doesn’t seem like the sentiment of a man acting out of love for his country or concern for his people.
I think the response here is to use this disturbance as motivation to build new societal infrastructure for a better tomorrow. This shouldn’t be acceptable anymore.