I was struck to see David Brooks wax so eloquently about “the moral injury” — his recent description of post- traumatic stress disorder specific to “those who’ve endured the depraved world of combat experience.” It is an article well worth reading, if we are to understand the plight of combat veterans.

However, I will remind readers that Brooks was a key commentator in support of the war in Iraq. Leading up to the war, he used his media platform to ridicule those who questioned the Bush administration’s false claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And he continues to support U. S. military might as the appropriate foreign policy approach to take to reshape the world in a way that accommodates U.S. interests and investments.

It’s hard to reconcile Brook’s war advocacy with his current insight that war “ is always a crime.” His article articulates that trauma for veterans includes feelings of guilt, shame, self-condemnation, and other symptoms of PTSD. The solution he promotes is to engage returning combat veterans as individuals, and embrace their struggle to reintegrate. But in the end, what is missing for me is an effort by Brooks to reflect on his role in creating the war that has wreaked so much havoc, caused so much pain, and created conditions for endless war.

I ask us to ponder: What “U.S. interests and investments” have been served by the war in Iraq? May I explore an area that the mainstream media don’t? Do we understand that the number one industrial export for the U.S. is weapons? Are we willing to discuss that the machines of weapons manufacturers have been humming? A quick internet search showed me a list of 60 countries to whom the U.S. publicly sells weapons. Included on the list are hot spots in the Middle East: Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Bahrain.

I can assure you that the interests of Pentagon contractors are being well served by endless war. By enriching the Pentagon, Congress reaps benefits in many ways: Weapons manufacturers financially support political campaigns; Congresspersons and their staffers cycle through the revolving door working for the military industrial complex before and certainly after their jobs on Capitol Hill; and representatives “ bring home the bacon” in the form of manufacturing jobs. It’s important to note that, in spite of a 1992 law that requires an audit of all federal agencies, the Pentagon has never complied. Meanwhile, the familiar stories the media do cover are those of weapons systems that continue to be funded by Congress, even when they are obsolete, don’t work, and are nothing more than boondoggles for a particular congressional district.

What does it say about the soul of this nation that the best paying jobs in our communities (and increasingly in our universities) are building the infrastructure that serves endless war?

Why do we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of fear? Politicians and commentators denounce the horror of the “other” guys who create videos of their beheadings of innocent people. It’s ugly and should be denounced. But how is it possible that we give a free pass to our own country’s killing of innocents? How can one type of killing be evil, and the other not? The ghosts that haunt the dreams of our returning combat veterans are the faces of those innocents. All the bravado and training and rhetoric about enemies is gone in those moments when the individual is wrestling with his soul — when he cannot release the images in that moment when he or she became fully aware of the truth that Brooks so well articulates: War is always a crime.

As I write, Senators Collins and King are considering a vote on S. 452, “A bill to provide lethal weapons to the Government of Ukraine.”

———

Mary Beth Sullivan is a member of PeaceWorks. She lives in Bath.