General says, "It's Fun to Shoot Some People"

Lt. General John "Mad Dog" Mattis, former Marine commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been "counseled" by his superiors for statements made during a public military dialogue in San Diego recently. Mattis, who led the 1st Marine Division in its advance on Baghdad in 2003, is quoted as saying,

Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right upfront with you, I like brawling....You go into Afghanistan, you've got guys who slapped women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.

I suppose that such talk is to be expected in the context of the dehumanization of combat. But that sort of thinking should not be tolerated among our military leaders when the heat of battle has somewhat cooled and time for rational reflection has taken place.

We are a nation that values human life. We are a nation that declares that, "All men are created equal...by their Creator." Every human life, even that of our most morally twisted enemy, is to be viewed as belonging to God. The taking of that life, even in combat, should be treated with at least some measurable twinge of moral conscience.

By extension, when we dehumanize others we devalue ourselves as well. When the human mind can accept the killing of one person as being "fun" it is not far from extending that attitude towards others deemed "less worthy" of life than ourselves. I'm sure there were those who once felt that killing Native American Indians was "fun." I'm sure there were those who once thought that wearing white sheets and lynching the descendents of slaves was "fun."

As a Christian pastor I understand that human sin deprives us of the "better angels of our nature." I understand that in the midst of human sin nations must wage war in order to preserve, protect and defend their God-given right to live and "breathe free." But the killing of anyone, anytimg, even in war, is still a participation in sin. My faith requires me to repent of all sin. Not just the sin of which I choose to repent.

General Mattis needs more than words of "counsel." He needs a new heart. He needs to step back from the field of battle and grieve for the lives that have been lost on all sides. He should reflect on the word of God spoken through the mouth of Ezekiel when he said, "For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. So repent, and live!"

In battle, General Mattis may be a fine leader. As a human being and as a representative leader in a free and civilized country, he is a failure. And a worrisome one at that.

One of my favorite military blogs, Mudville Gazette, bears this quote from George Orwell on his masthead, "Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

It does not diminish a "rough man's" commitment to his cause when he regrets the necessity of killing his enemy. It will only increase his humanity when he weeps for what his slain enemy might have been, but will never again have the chance to become.