Watched Restrepo on the treadmill over the last few days. Excellent documentary of the war in Afghanistan. Brings home the fear, confusion, exhaustion, brutality, and camaraderie of war. Some thoughts:
- Being shot at is terrifying. Being shot at when you don't know what the hell is going on around you is even more terrifying. The movie does a great job conveying the fog of war.
- Whether or not Americans are in Afghanistan for good reason, we cannot expect the Afghans to like their occupiers. Yes, the Americans are chasing out the Taliban, building roads, opening schools, bringing aid, and so on. But we are also dropping bombs on innocents, rousing people from their sleep at gunpoint, making them sit on their hands, and interrogating them. Maybe the goat-herd they're interrogating in the movie is Taliban and was shooting at them yesterday. Or maybe he's really just a goatherd and has nothing to do with the Taliban. The soldiers can't know. What they're doing might be necessary. But it's certainly not winning friends. We shouldn't be surprised that we aren't liked.
- May not be a big surprise, but there is a good bit of machismo and hazing and unprofessional behavior on display.
- Most of the soldiers seemed like ordinary people, caught in the hellhole of war, who can't wait to leave. I hope we can bring them home soon and that Afghanistan won't fall to the Taliban after they leave. But.. what can't be done in twelve years, cannot be done in twenty.
- Being shot at is terrifying. Being shot at when you don't know what the hell is going on around you is even more terrifying. The movie does a great job conveying the fog of war.
- Whether or not Americans are in Afghanistan for good reason, we cannot expect the Afghans to like their occupiers. Yes, the Americans are chasing out the Taliban, building roads, opening schools, bringing aid, and so on. But we are also dropping bombs on innocents, rousing people from their sleep at gunpoint, making them sit on their hands, and interrogating them. Maybe the goat-herd they're interrogating in the movie is Taliban and was shooting at them yesterday. Or maybe he's really just a goatherd and has nothing to do with the Taliban. The soldiers can't know. What they're doing might be necessary. But it's certainly not winning friends. We shouldn't be surprised that we aren't liked.
- May not be a big surprise, but there is a good bit of machismo and hazing and unprofessional behavior on display.
- Most of the soldiers seemed like ordinary people, caught in the hellhole of war, who can't wait to leave. I hope we can bring them home soon and that Afghanistan won't fall to the Taliban after they leave. But.. what can't be done in twelve years, cannot be done in twenty.
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