Shoo Fly

Shoo fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to somebody!
--Traditional American Song

Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
--"An Irish Airman Forsees his Death," WB Yeats

While thumbing through a book today about the close quarter fighting in Saigon following Tet, House to House: Playing the Enemy's Game in Saigon, May 1968 , I was struck by one long-shot photo.

In it, a soldier fans flies away from the face of a captured Viet Cong who is wounded, lying on a stretcher after B/2-47th (M) Infantry secured the enemy-held street on May 11, 1968. This random picture summarizes the U.S. approach to VC prisoners during the Vietnam War. Note that the VC did not wear uniforms, nor did they represent a country; however, they were still treated as human beings.

Contrast this with the treatment of say, that received by American Taliban member John Walker Lindh after his being wounded on the battlefield. Call him what you will; he had a bullet wound that went untreated for several days, coincident with his status as prisoner. I am not Lindh's apologist. But it is easy to imagine that the blase and callous treatment which Lindh received at the hands of the U.S. military might not be an isolated case.

Soldiers fight, but when they come off the field of battle, they are wounded men. Hatred has no role to play. I realize I am writing this as an idealist. But since the vendetta attitude was the genesis of the Iraq War, every move which issues from that wrongheaded motivation is a mis-step.