Alpha Beta Army

I'm sure this has been covered elsewhere, but have you noticed that whenever allegations of abuse by soldiers are mentioned, the first thing that the right-wingers do is insist that it was a low-level thing and that the responsible people are being punished by the military. It could be the first that they've heard of these particular allegations, yet they already know who's to blame and that it's been dealt with properly. Which is how they prove that Bush's government does not condone such wrong-doing, because wrong-doers get punished.

Yet when the "responsible people" are found by the military to be innocent, that too is proof that our military and government have done nothing wrong; because the abuse turned out to be unproven. So everything's a win-win for these guys.

And does it need to be stated what the common theme is: Abuse by our military isn't happening, and when it does happen, it's not approved by the government. And this is so because they want it to be so; because otherwise, they can't continue to support Bush.

And of course, they have to ignore the fact that the military really should be held responsible for allowing situations which can result in such abuse. I know that the righties like to talk as if the military is one big frat, where boys will be boys. But there is supposed to be this thing called discipline, right? Isn't that supposed to be one of the most basic things they teach our guys, even before we teach them how to shoot? Hell, even grade-school kids in their karate class are supposed to be taught not to use their powers for evil. Yet we're to believe that all of this abuse is completely out of our hands, and that nothing can be done until after it's over...every damn time?

Then again, maybe the "frat-party" atmosphere serves more purpose than forgiving abuses. Maybe it's a subtle tool to aid recruitment. "Join the Army Reserves. Anything Goes."

But of course that's just a joke, and they wouldn't do such a thing. So why does our right-wing like to pretend that this is the case? Because if they don't, they can't support Bush. They'd rather envision our military culture as a free-for-all frathouse, than to see their beloved leader as a wrong-doer. Because they support our President more than they support our troops.