Arkhangel

Yesterday I raised suspicions of about a person claiming to be an American soldier serving in Iraq. He calls himself Arkhangel and he has his own blog.

I find "Arkhangel" a little creepy, as a name. And I think one ought to be suspicious of anonymous opiners. I was wary of atrios for that reason until, having visited atrios' Eschaton regularly for months and found a lot of value there, that suspicion has dissipated. Reading Arkhangel's blog is not particularly creepy. "We've pounded Iraq for the last twelve years," he says. "We've supported a beastly regime for the last thirty years. This is our chance to set things right."

Now, if Bush had said and meant that, I might have some respect for him. If US govt actually looked at the world through a prism of human rights and social justice when formulating foreign policy ... well ... things would be different is all. That Bush & co cobble together justifications for their actions from scraps of human dignity and gleaming lies ... well ...

Akhangel goes on to say "I am under no illusions that our current leadership will do the right thing."

He holds out hope that the occupation can be improved and Iraq become "a free country." May it be so.

As to anonymity, Arkhangel says, "[T]here's a long tradition of being apolitical in the Armed Forces, and my opinions (which I post here) are political. So I choose not to mix the two. Believe me, it's better that way. You don't want a political military." Only a fool would think we don't have a political military. Still, fool is fool is fool. Just look South to see highly politicized militaries.