war is hell...

Every time I think about the soldiers fighting in Iraq, I get this anxious feeling in my gut and my heart goes out to anyone over there. War is never fought by those in power. It is always the powerless and those at a disadvantage who fight wars for the rest of us. Nick Arvin has recently published a novel about a young boy sent off to war, although his soldier fights in France during World War II. The novel approaches the character differently than most; his soldier is a coward, and it examines what is at the heart of all of us -- the desire to flee and run, "...but at its existential best, Articles of War makes you wonder how you would handle yourself in a ditch, surrounded by snipers, and under orders to kill..." I do wonder how most of us would handle it, including those in power -- how would they handle those conflicting desires; on the one hand to run, and on the other, the desire to kill?