West Asia has a tough terrain with a different culture and civilization. It can bring out the best, or the worst, in a man who is sent to participate in an unending fight/war. Even the best soldiers can buckle under, notwithstanding their excellent training/arms. From heroic deeds to barbaric ones…This can happen if a soldier has a blurred objective and no time-frame regarding their engagement.
Some generals and senior officers who tried to bring this fact into focus have been asked to shut up or have been effectively sidelined. Anyone who has some idea of military traditions would be extremely worried at the games (almost like video games) the civilian leadership has been playing from the comfort of their cushy offices.
Two stories today poignantly bring out the unfolding tragedy whose unwitting victims are also soldiers who, under a good and capable civilian leadership, could have distinguished themselves in the battlefield and brought laurels to their countries.
The Independent states that US Marines will be court-martialled over the massacre of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha. The dead included women and children said to be as young as two.
“The parents of two US Marines said their sons were left traumatised after being asked to clean up the mess. One of the men, Lance Corporal Roel Ryan Briones, said he had taken photos quickly confiscated by investigators and carried bodies out of homes.
” ‘They ranged from little babies to adult males and females,’ he said. ‘I’ll never be able to get that out of my head. I can still smell the blood.’
“His mother said: ‘He had to carry a little girl’s body. Her head was blown off and her brain splattered on his boots.’
“The accusations further undermine trust between the occupying forces and the Iraqi government. Iraq’s new Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, launched a candid attack on what he said was a worrying number of civilian deaths from the gun barrels of American troops. ‘There is a limit to acceptable excuses,’ he said. ‘Yes, a mistake may happen, but there is an acceptable limit to mistakes.’
“Human rights groups are already referring to the killings in Haditha as ‘Iraq’s My Lai’ after the cold-blooded murder by US soldiers of more than 500 Vietnamese civilians in 1968.”
For more on Marines you can see Wikipedia.
Another news story notes that the month of May 2006 had been the bloodiest for Britain since Iraq was occupied three years ago, leaving 11 Britons dead, many injured and the calls for withdrawal more urgent than ever before. And the crescendo is rising about the “orderly withdrawal of British troops”.
“The outcry followed as details emerged of the latest young British soldiers to perish in Iraq: Lt Tom Mildinhall, a brilliant sportsman, scientist, musician and army officer, and L/Cpl Paul ‘Fas’ Farrelly, of Runcorn, Cheshire, a committed family man who leaves a wife and three children.”
In these sad circumstances I am reminded of a moving song of yesteryears:
Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the flowers gone?
Gone to young girls, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone to young men, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
Where have all the young men gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young men gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young men gone?
Gone to soldiers, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
And where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, a long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, every one!
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
And where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?
Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?
Where have all the graveyards gone?
Gone to flowers, every one!
When will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn?
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.