War, Disinfected

So I was reading this piece about "America's Army," the video game from the US Army which is really just a recruitment tool cloaked as mindless entertainment.

Aside from the obvious issues of targeting children and sanitizing/dumbing down the combat experience in hopes of enticing them to join (not to mention the money spent to put this game together), another idea about "America's Army" struck me...  I was just thinking - and this is really nothing more than an afterthought - that it seems highly insulting to the memories of brave soldiers who fought and died and those who continue to fight to water down and trivialize their experiences.  And as a means of deceiving children, no less.  Just a thought.

I should probably note that I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with joining the military.  It's noble and brave.  I just don't like the idea of suckering young people into enlisting with grandiose and unrealistic expectations.  And I hate the idea of sending our men and women off to fight in an unjust war predicated on lies.

Well, as usual, I've said nothing new or insightful here, but I did post that link and folks should check it out.

100 Years

I was reading this opinion piece ["One more year in Iraq, or 100?"] and the following stood out to me:

Long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq," plus immunity from Iraqi law for U.S. troops and contractors, "and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.

There's potential for a story-within-a-story here. "immunity from Iraqi law for U.S. troops and contractors"??? I'm not being sarcastic, but posing a question - why the contractors? There has to be some logical reason that I'm missing. And surely this doesn't mean that the contractors can rape and murder innocent civilians - or each other - without consequence, right?

Furthermore, I'm trying to imagine what it would be like if some other country had these powers within the U.S. That's completely frightening.