War... is Hell!!!

This is actually not really a recent topic or anything. But one thing in the news in Japan a couple of years ago made me realize the true horrors of war. I grew up in the peaceful country of Sweden and moved to the similarly peaceful country of Japan so I’ve been fortunate to never have been confronted directly with the horrors of war, of course I understand on an abstract intellectual level, the horror of war, but never really truly emotionally.

It was in the aftermath of the US war of aggression/liberation of Iraq (take your pick between the two or somewhere in between), Japan sent a regiment of troops to assist in peacekeeping efforts under U.N. coordination, something that was highly controversial in Japan since Japanese troops on foreign soil can be a very sensitive subject among some of Japan’s neighbors and in national politics. Be that as it may, the troops were sent in 2004 and put up camp in the outback of Iraq .

A Japanese television news team was there to document the historical event and I clearly remembered the reporter talking about the harshness of the Iraq desert and the condition that the troops had to live under. He emphasized how water was scarce and had to be utilized efficiently and then he dropped the bomb: "Water is so scarce here that they can’t even wash the rice before they cook it!”"

It hit me like a ton of bricks as I sat in my comfortable apartment watching the news on my flat widescreen TV purchased with salaryman money. The true horror of war... Not even enough water to wash the rice before cooking it! My view on war will never ever be the same...