Iraq

Before reading this, please go over to the Parish and read his post "Can We Put These People In One Secure Location?".

I thought that elevator ride was a perfect metaphor for what is going on with the country.

1. A suit (those in positions of power) deals with the war off-handedly...doesn't have to think it through or consider the consequences.

2. The peaceniks make great observers, but don't seem to have any real influence on how things will play out.

3. The military knows it has a tough situation on its hands, and is dealing with it the best they can. The sergeant probably looks at both of the other two with unease. How could the suit put me in this position? I'm willing to fight his wars, but I trust him to pick one worth fighting. He's not completely sure this one is worth it. He would probably also be uncomfortable with the notion of a pacifist, but after a few beers might confess that his view of the world has changed in that desert.

In number 3, I've done quite a bit of projection of myself onto that sergeant. I was in the army for 8 years and would still be there, if life hadn't taken some twists and turns on me. I'm a left-wing liberal that if you had to pigeon-hole me, would be a member of the Green Party with an occassional dash of libertarianism. I'm not your typical army recruit, so what was the attraction?

To sum up the reasons: WWII. I read countless books on the subject. I war we had to fight. A war of need. The kind of war that even Atticus Finch could support. The kind of war that inspires monikers like "The Greatest Generation." So I overlooked our wars of choice in Korea and Vietnam and I enlisted. I enlisted as a Russian linguist in 1987 during the Cold War. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be a key player if the Russian horde came crashing across Europe and we had to fight a war of need.

And so while we fight this war of choice, psychologists have a ready supply of possibilities for observations of cognitive dissonance. Soldiers have to find a way to reconcile their competing cognitions of serving in the miliary to fight wars of need vs. fighting a war of choice that they are not completely convinced is worthwhile. Their families go through the same process.