Three things we need to do in Iraq

A bunch of courageous men with their faces covered beheaded a tied-up, defenseless American civilian hostage and sent the video to a television station. They said it was in revenge for the now infamous incidents of torture apparently inflicted by American soldiers on Iraqi prisoners and visitors (though somehow I get the feeling they would've found an excuse for it regardless). The insurgents' atrocities (hanging Americans from a bridge like slaughtered livestock) begets American atrocities (you've seen the images) which begets this sickening scene. And the cycle of joy goes on and on.

There are a few things we need to do in Iraq. And no, Senator Inhofe, being apologists for war criminals is not one of those things.

a) Those soldiers who committed the torture must be held accountable. Any superior officers who gave them the orders to torture, either directly or indirectly, should be tried. The secretary of war should resign. The Pentagon brass must make it clear and unambiguous that these sorts of things are unacceptable. If it ever happens again, they must punish the perpetrators without waiting for the story to get reported by the media. These things go without saying. Or should.

b) Either get more troops in Iraq or withdraw completely. There's no two ways about it. Guards at the now infamous Abu Ghraib prison are reportedly working up to 18 hour days. An 18 hour day at the security desk at the Empire State Building would be long enough. But in a prison with enemy prisoners, the desert heat. Soldiers had their tours of duty extended much longer than they'd expected. As I've said repeatedly, if you put people in unreasonable situations, they will react in unreasonable ways. The situation in Iraq will always be extremely difficult, but as long as we're going to be there, more troops would make things somewhat less unreasonable on those soldiers who we force to remain. If we're not willing to get more troops into Iraq, even at the expense of a draft (70% of Americans supported the invasion so I'm sure some of them would be willing), then we should get out.

c) Soldiers in combat zones must be taken care of. They must be given good pay and, more importantly, they must be given adequate equipment. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, a local soldier was killed in Iraq last month. The other soldiers in his patrol said that the truck they were driving was unprotected and had no armor; armor that might've been vital in protecting against the rocket propelled grenade that killed one soldier and injured the other four. This is what angers me the most. We're sending these kids (the dead was 21) into these extremely dangerous situations, asking them to risk their lives for some greater cause, and they don't even have basic equipment to reduce the risk. It pisses me off that the Pentagon can find billions of dollars for useless Star Wars but can't provide basic crap to combat soldiers. I've gotten the impression (and conversations with my brother, who was in the Marines, have done nothing to dissuade me) that the military brass is so starry-eyed about fancy technology that they forget basic stuff. It's like teaching a young baseball player to hit a forkball, knuckleball, screwball and splitter, but not the fastball. Except kids are dying because the Pentagon can't keep its eye on the ball.