Jeff Guntzel's open letter to army spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty.
Yesterday the United States Military announced to the world that, last week, it had killed six more children in the eastern Afghan province of Paktia.
..."In this incident, if non-combatants surround themselves with thousands of weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition and howitzers and mortars, in a compound known to be used by a terrorist, we are not completely responsible for the consequences."
Did you mean to call those dead children — whose names and ages and dreams I wish I could recite to you now — "non-combatants?" Was it reflex or script? When you were briefed on this tragedy, did you feel like you had swallowed a stone? Did you think, just for a short second, I will not explain this one for them?
The next time you are asked to speak about the inevitable but inexcusable tragedies of war, remember the people you love. And remember that your love for family and friends is not unique.
And to the people who loved each of those six lost children, war is not an "inexact art," it is a murderous folly.
Friday, December 12, 2003
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