Tragic accident involving United States military again produces victims

Yet again, the US military suffers a tragic accident. Yet again, a military apparatus belonging to the US armed services provokes deaths and injuries to its own (and its allies’) troops. Such a situation is not a reason to score cheap political points and certainly everyone, everywhere, belonging to those who want to be part of the 21st Century and the new order of world affairs, join President Bush and his administration in respect for the dead and their families.Not only the victims but also the pilot who accidentally launched the bombs should be remembered. Nobody blames a young pilot for an accident, even though such an incident will seriously cloud his horizons, probably forever. As President George Bush states, “it is dangerous to serve in the US armed forces and for this reason, we lose soldiers”. Not wishing to score cheap political points, because Pravda.Ru is not another tabloid paper and we make every effort to be loyal to our name (Pravda = truth), we feel it is important to contribute towards a better understanding of world affairs, a position we have always defended since our beginning. The United States of America has indeed many positive attributes. An excellent arena of study in depth, concentrating academic activity around certain themes, in return for marvelous professional conditions, is a reality. One congratulates the USA for its advances made in the areas of science and technology, for instance. After a number of disasters involving US troops in recent years, one would like to analyse what is obviously a constant problem in the USA’s military … lack of organisation, lack of competence and a lackadaisical attitude towards a real responsibility, which is the management of the USA’s forces, spread around the world, totally unwelcome in most cases, tolerated only because of pay-outs to corrupt officials. Pravda.Ru laments most profoundly the pain and suffering felt by those who have lost their family members in yet another military accident involving US armed forces. However, enough is enough. Associating with the US military is dangerous. The fact is that money and arrogance is not a synonym of military efficiency. In future, if the USA’s FA-18 planes were confined to the Arizona desert, for example, if the USA’s aircraft carriers stayed at home to marshal the USA’s territorial waters, such accidents would not happen. To say that it is dangerous to be a soldier because the army itself is incompetent is a disgraceful comment to make on a country’s armed forces.

TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.RU LISBON