While the Wikileak of 91,000 classified Afghan war documents offered valuable insights, those of us who oppose the war in Afghanistan, waste far too much time on paper trails and far too little on self-reflection. The real reason a democratic president, elected on a bring-the-troops-home-from-Iraq platform, has the country floundering in Afghanistan, is his unwillingness (and that of any ambitious politician), to grapple with society's powerful but primitive call for "blood lust."
The belief that humans must give "blood" for that which they value the most is embedded in most if not all human cultures. Modern westerners are repulsed by the genital bloodletting custom of the ancient Mayans. Of course, Christians do have the theology of Jesus Christ sacrificing his blood on the cross, so that we could hold onto our own pints. And lest one forget, Holy Communion offers a ritualized reminder.
But in modern times, the role of finding sacrificial victims for our blood letting rituals, has merely been taken over by secular society. Unlike the Mayans, we operate from a more sanitized lottery system. We send our young sons and daughters off to war, knowing that all of them will not return alive. Rather than having our head of state choose which of them will be sacrificed on the altar of whatever we claim we're fighting for, we let chance and fate make the choice for us. Solemn rituals of twenty-one gun salutes, flag ceremonies, snappily-uniformed pallbearers, burial in sacred ground, i.e. veterans cemeteries, and words about heroism, sacrifice and loss are offered to the grieving families.
Alas, at some point, the public loses interest in this form of sacrificial entertainment, especially if our team is not winning. The cause becomes fuzzy. We give it a five or ten year rest, and then find another enemy deserving of such bloodletting. Anyone who has ever reflected on the true nature of war, should read and reread Barbara Ehrenreich's Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War"Blood Rites."
It is true that sacrificial bloodletting may be integral to human nature. But so is sex. We understand the latter's power and hold over us, and thus strive to come up with laws that control the venues in which it is allowed and the age range of participants, in an effort to protect children from sexual predators.
The only real difference with war, is that we haven't yet come to admit its initial thrill.