Google Trends -- Hot Trends on August 5, 2007 at 10:50 AM

For now, I am only going to write about one specific Hot Trend. I just have a lot to say about it.

Jesse Spielman
Jesse Spielman is one of the soldiers involved in the March 2006 rape and murder of a teenage girl in Iraq. Her parents and sister were also murdered. Spielman received the harshest sentence: 110 years in prison. He did not actually murder anyone himself, and he did not take part in the rape. He was considered guilty because they felt he acted as lookout and was fully aware of the plan prior to entering the family's home.

If this were something that happened in the United States or another country that is not war-torn, I would say nail this despicable jerk to the freaking wall. I would be enraged and disgusted. I think in some circumstances, rapists and pedophiles should receive the death penalty (although I have my misgivings about the death penalty -- so at least they should receive the harshest available sentence). But, since this happened in the middle of war, I feel uneasy. Not because I think what he did was right but because I wonder if we put somebody in a situation he wasn't ready for; therefore, we endangered a family and a poor, young girl.

Do I think he deserves punishment? By all means YES! Would he have allowed something like this under sane, civilized circumstances? I don't know. I think war does something to people and makes them something they aren't. That doesn't negate personal responsibility, but I think sometimes we can't fully understand what we would do in a situation because -- praise the Lord -- we never have to be in such horrible situations.

Granted, I don't know all the facts -- only what I read in the Washington Post online article. Just imagining myself in this guy's place makes me wonder what I would have done. Here's the scenario as I IMAGINE it. I stress "imagine it" because I don't know the facts. As I imagine it: you are in enemy territory with your fellow soldiers. They start doing DESPICABLE, HORRIBLE acts (I don't dispute the horror of what these men did). You have a choice: keep watch for enemies out to kill you, or do the harder thing and keep your fellow soldiers from committing these heinous acts. You keep them safe, and you are probably getting out alive. You leave the lookout post to try and save that family, and you leave yourself open to be killed either by the men you are serving with or the enemy you are fighting against. It takes guts to do the right thing. The right thing was definitely to help the family, but I understand that if you are stuck in a situation where you are in fear for your life, you may not do the right thing. The instinct for self preservation is strong.

It's easy for us to say that we would do the right thing. I think I would, but I don't know that for sure. I have never gone to war. One thing we do know, something happens to some people during war. They lose something that makes them human. According to Wikipedia.org, during World War II it's estimated that the Russian Army raped over 2,000,000 German women and girls. Yes, 2 million. An estimated 200,000 died as a result. They died from injuries, were murdered or committed suicide. It's hard to believe that every single man who participated in those atrocities would have been considered a horror under normal, civilized circumstances. I guess it's possible that they were all animals that had no feelings, that they were savages. But, is that probable? Rapes happen in every war. It's the big "screw you" to the nation that is being invaded. It's an insult to the men of the country. It's a way to drive the women and their families out. It's been happening since the Old Testament times. Doesn't mean it's right, but we shouldn't be surprised that it happens.

I am not excusing any of these actions, but I also think we some times create our own troubles. Jesse Spielman has to take responsibility for his lack of action in protecting that family and that girl. But, I also think we shouldn't be surprised when this stuff happens during war time.

One thing to make totally clear: I KNOW NOT ALL MEN WHO FIGHT IN WAR RAPE. There are so many noble, honorable men and women fighting in Iraq. I hate that these weak men who succumbed to animal savagery are even publicized as US soldiers. I respect and support the brave and good men and women who fight for our country. I thank you. You do what I could never do, and I appreciate you so much.

It's very sad. When I think of how scared that girl was as these men violated her and hurt her, I feel like crying. When I think of her family agonizing over this and being murdered, I am sickened. War or not, rape is an ugly, sickening, degrading crime. It's inexcusable.

I hope that this is not something that is happening on a larger scale than we realize. It's scary enough to be a woman in a civilized country. Rape happens everyday in the United States. I can't imagine what it must be like in a country that is in such strife.

Please say a prayer for our soldiers and the people they are protecting.