tit for tat

An airstrike by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan killed Taliban fighters, including a local leader, who were responsible for a weekend helicopter crash that killed 38 troops, the worst single incident in 10 years of war. (msnbc.com)

Tit for tat my grandmother used to say. You do to me I do to you. It stops, she would add, when either you do to me a greater evil, or I do a deed so ungodly you can not make another move. She then would say, on those rare occasions when she embarked upon a glass of peach schnapps, no need for the tat if we never start the tit.

I am confused. We went to war in Viet Nam. We were told that unless we demonstrated the power and prestige of Western Civilization in this Asian hell hole, the world would collapse and all of us would no longer be able to celebrate God, vote or pledge allegiance to the flag. Some very good and dedicated Americans went to war, died, were physically maimed were emotionally drained and some moved on. Some very good Americans defied the war, protested, left this country or felt dismayed and disenfranchised. We then exited Viet Nam, leaving behind allies, friends and people who believed that democracy was the correct form of government. We moved on, and now recount that era in our history still debating its merits, goals, successes and failures. We have Veterans who still live in nightmares, some who don't dream at all and some who go unnoticed by many and seem to live in a nether world. And we still celebrate God, vote and pledge allegiance to the flag.

And now, we are still In Iraq, and Afghanistan. We are there because of the evil imposed by heretics who use religion as their scapegoat for hatred, and misery. We are there because, our hearts are good and our souls are decent and we feel it necessary to cleanse the world of evil doers. We are there because a president and his cadre of clones decided who is good and who is bad. We are there because too many innocent men and women have died at the hands of reckless people who rummage through the fear and loathing of self defeated, self loathing, scared individuals.

We got them, they got us and now we got them again. I am lucky; I don’t have to place myself on the front lines of war in countries many of us never knew existed. I am grateful I know no one who is fighting that war. I am proud of the men and women who believe in freedom and honor and have taken the pledge to fight for this country. But I am confused as to how long this goes on, how does it end, when does it end, and what happens when and if it does end and what if it goes on and on and on?

I am not a pacifist, I am not a hater of war, but I am a person who just does not understand what is happening in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have heard hype, been preached propaganda, and have been told to question is Un-American. I am old enough to have lived through Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, presidents who persisted in planning a war but had to abandon their positions. I have lived through Bush, who told us of weapons of mass destruction, premature victories, Obama who plans withdrawal but still has Troops on the ground and I am still confused.

I have seen Veterans whose ages are those of teens, coming home as if they were suddenly senior citizens, fraught with post traumatic this and that and ailments that a 90 year old might suffer. I have seen politicians raise the flag, thump the Bible, sing the national anthem proclaiming these wars are a must to protect our image our nationhood, our manhood. I have heard dissent, I have heard dissertations about the pros and the cons... and I am still confused.

I now hear my grandmother who would shake her head and then say to her grand kids, where does it start and where will it end when you really have no beginning and no end is in sight and then she would add tit for tat!