[lit-ideas] Re: Warrior world.
- From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 14:17:47 -0700
Veronica wrote
My statement that I heard soldiers on TV say they are doing their job,
not following orders is much more recent than that. More like Iraq
and Afghanistan wars. If I had known I was going to be challenged on
this, I certainly would have taken notes and references. I did a
search for it, found lots of things, but not that. I just read three
articles re soldiers in these two wars. I don't wish to read them
again. One of the places I might have heard it, and I know it's more
than one, is people interviewing soldiers saying good bye to their
families just before they are sent.
I certainly didn't mean to 'challenge' you by suggesting that you didn't
hear people in the service say that they were only doing their jobs. I'd
thought that there was some confusion over whether 'only doing one's
job,' had been offered as a defense by e.g. Eichmann or Lieutenant
Calley. It turns out that neither said this: each said he was only
following orders, and that notion was briefly a topic here.
I'd think though that those who said, as they were saying goodbye to
their families, that they were only doing their jobs meant it in the
sense we've already agreed upon, viz., that they shouldn't be thought of
as heroes ready to sacrifice themselves for a cause.
Robert Paul
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