"Cry 'Havoc' and let slip..."

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A decorated Marine colonel turned anti-war congressman has said Marines killed at least 30 innocent Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" in Haditha in November, suggesting the death toll may be twice as high as originally reported.

"Give war a chance."--Thomas Friedman

Well, this is what it is. Slaughter. Massacre. Death. Ain't pretty. Ain't nice. Ain't neat and clean, with dead bad guys and grateful "innocents" lookin' on, all doe-eyed and ready now to become good Americanesque citizens of the world because violence has shown them the way to civilization.

Rome was civilized. And they slaughtered every man, woman, and child in Jerusalem for a petty disturbance. That wasn't the first slaughter, nor the last. But still, we all aspire to be Rome: to build our stability and our peace and our comfort on violence.

Well, this is what violence is. Power for the sake of power. And the one expression of absolute power available to humans, is to kill. We've gotten very good at it. We're just not very discriminating. "Support our troops," my ass. War itself sickens me. Can there even be a "just war"? In theory, perhaps; neve in reality. And reality is where we all end up living.

Anyone who thought for one minute that war was a justified response to anything that's happened to this country this century, this one's yours. Enjoy.