There's a Reason

Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful?
What madness there is! What blindness!
What unintelligent leadership!
A scurrying mass of bewildered humanity,
crashing headlong against each other,
propelled by an orgy of greed and brutality
--Lost Horizon (1937)

We need a change
So do it today
'Cause I can see a clear horizon
--Proud, Heather Small

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It’s getting hard to be someone, but it all works out
It doesn’t matter much to me
--Strawberry Fields, The Beatles
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In the most recent Army Echoes newsletter for Army retirees, General George W. Casey said two things with which Ranger takes exception.

[1] The General calls the deaths and violence at Ft. Hood senseless. They are anything but that. There is a reason; there always is.

Major Hasan's shooting rampage can be easily deconstructed; while abhorrent, it is not "senseless". It was no more senseless than the violence perpetrated in the name of the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©).

All violence has a logic, even if it is beyond a General Officer's comprehension. When the violence lands in our court, it is senseless. When our Predator missiles score a hit and kill innocent civilans, they are collateral damage.

[2] The General says he speaks for all of us in the Army family when he says he is proud of the Army. Well, here is at least one person who is not proud of our Army or our country for its actions following the events of 9.11.01. Having 4 Stars on your collar does not make you my spokesman.

In fact, Ranger is not feeling very proud of his country these days.

Hoodwinked

__________________

As regrettable and senseless as are the murders at Ft. Hood yesterday, we ask: When a Hellfire missile kills 12 innocent people in Afghanistan why are we not equally as indignant and outraged?

Both events can/could have been prevented. Nothing good can be gained by any of these deaths. When this happens in theatre we and they are issued an apology by a public affairs officer over the regrettable loss of life. Yesterday, the American people were told that former president George Bush and wife, and President Obama, were all praying for the victims and their families.

Apologies and prayers are not sufficient, even when presidentially-mandated.