[Marxism] James Petras: Obama?s Animal Farm: Bigger, Bloodier Wars Equal Peace and Justice

[S. Artesian]

Well, Petras didn't say it, an US army general said it. Petras quoted it. 
And there is an element, a strong element of truth to it.  Doesn't change 
the fact that these are professional killers in the service of a specific 
class interest, but when has professionalism ever been automatically 
inclusive or exclusive of sanity?

Regular army troops are trained to be sociopaths-- that's the whole point of 
basic training, to strip you down to nothing, to remove all notions of 
self-esteem, self-worth, and then rebuild those items according to the 
army's requirements, the group definition.  You do what you do based on what 
is worthwhile to the group.  Being a good killer gets the most props, so 
good killer I will be.

The "commando" is trained to operate independent from the group, without 
back-up logistical, tactical, or "moral" support.  And in that regard,  spec 
ops soldiers really do function like psychopaths.

The general's characterization obviously is an exaggeration, but one that 
contains quite a bit more than just a grain of truth.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "nada" <dwaltersMIA at gmail.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 2:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] James Petras: Obama?s Animal Farm: Bigger, Bloodier 
Wars Equal Peace and Justice