The art and glory of war may be found writ large in books – and endlessly echoed by non-combatants. But the truth about war lies wounded in the surgeon’s tent: “Doctor, will I see again?” “Doctor, will I walk again?” Generals may glitter, but soldiers only bleed.
We need not belabor that war is a tool for profit, launched by shadowy creatures seldom seen. We all know that war’s true causes are deliberately, and usually effectively, blurred by its makers. Yet this does not mean we have to deceive our very own selves as to what we are getting into. We need not veneer hate with the label of patriotism; deem murder as glory; or most dangerously, envision the slaughter of armed and explosive combat as some sort of fist fight that displays our personal courage.
Within the past 2 years, 470,000 Syrian civilians and soldiers have died in war. And the reason for my nation’s exterminating more stands unclear to me. Does anyone hold an explanation?