Victims of War: Looking Past Scott Thomas
The entire Scott Thomas brouhaha should be reaching it’s close – TNR has confirmed all the major details except that the infamous mocking of the disfigured woman in the mess hall happened in Kuwait instead of Iraq and now the conservative attackers just look silly and petty(well, they always did, but now it’s basically irrefutable that they were full of it from the beginning). Instead of the embarrassing spectacle of conservative bloggers doing their best to emulate shit-hurling chimpanzees in insolently insisting that any reports that reflected badly on any US troops in Iraq were both false and treasonous, we should have learned that war is inevitably deadening to the spirit of those who participate in it.
On that note, Marine Sgt Lawrence Hutchins seems to be such a victim of the moral deadening that war brings. He was convicted of murder for kidnapping and executing an Iraqi man who he and his squad thought to be an insurgent. Hutchins and the squad were frustrated with his squad’s inability to find and kill militants and were suffering from their constant immersion in violence:
Several witnesses testified that the plot was born out of frustration after suspected insurgents kept evading prosecution.
Lawyers for Hutchins argued that he participated in the plot because his own officers had set a poor leadership example and had given approval for marines to use violence in capturing and interrogating suspected insurgents.
Another squad member, Cpl Marshall Magincalda, 24, was convicted of conspiracy to murder, larceny and house breaking and could also receive a life sentence. He was acquitted of premeditated murder and kidnapping.
A military psychiatrist said Magincalda developed post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression as a result of combat.
“He was essentially a broken shell,” Jennifer Morse told the court. “This was a young man who was gone, who was clearly haunted by his memories.”
The sad thing is that occupation will inevitably bring about these tragedies. With an enemy who can blend into the civilian population and with soldiers being killed by IED and sniper fire, the natural instinct of Marines to confront and kill their enemies is blunted and denied. We should not be surprised that frustration emerges and soldiers lash out because of an inability to protect themselves and their comrades. This cruel logic is compounded by the fact that Hutchins and his squad have probably given rise to more insurgents, or at least civilians who are unlikely to cooperate with the US military and thus further inflame the rage and frustration of future Sergeant Hutchinses. So while O’Hanlon and Pollack cavalierly and irresponsibly insist that there is military progress, we should remind ourselves that every day US troops are in Iraq, the likelihood of incidents like Sergeant Hutchins rises, and the logic of occupation continues to take its murderous and morally deadening toll.
