A Need for Confrontation of Another Kind

“Women Confronting War” by Jennifer Turpin is an eye-opening look at the latent effects that war has on women. It is an informed looked by someone who is well qualified to speak on the issue, based on her background, most especially her position with the European University Centre for Peace Studies. It is a commonly held perception that women are not a large portion of the casualties of war, because of the small numbers that are in active service (325).This perception couldn’t be more wrong. Women and children suffer immensely in the form of death, sexual assaults, violence and the loss of homes and loved ones during and after war. (325).

I found this essay to be deeply disturbing in its content. Mainly because I have been lucky as to never have experienced war first hand. I have always held the belief that those soldiers that are fighting are fighting for a cause and with good intentions. Further, I have always felt that the countries involved in war supported my belief that war is an unfortunate side effect of ‘doing the right thing’. My belief was that in the unfortunate event that some rogue soldier behaved in a way that crossed the line between what is necessary and what is appalling, he would be disciplined harshly by military organization that he represented. If this failed, there was a backup, the UN would step in. I was not expecting the cavalier attitude of those in charge of these organizations, when questioned about such horrific events. “When the head of the U.N. mission in Cambodia was questioned about the sexual abuse of women and girls by U.N. troops, he responded that he was ‘not a puritan; eighteen year-old, hot-blooded soldiers had a right to drink a few beers and chase after young beautiful things of the opposite sex’”(327). Are you kidding me? These are the words of someone in such a position as the HEAD of the U.N. mission? Even more shocking was the response of the commander of the United States Pacific Command when he was asked about the assault and rape by three of his soldiers against a 12-year-old girl. He felt that there stupidity lay in resorting to rape rather than using the money spent on renting a car to purchase sex (327). Is the fact that this girl was 12-years-old, the age of a seventh grader, completely lost on this man? I wonder if this fact would still be lost if it happened to be his 12-year-old daughter.

I am bewildered by the fact that nowhere does there seem to be a point where someone steps in to say, enough IS enough. How can the populations, mainly women and children, of underdeveloped countries continue to be killed, raped, brutalized and chased from their homes? What purpose is this serving? What is the greater good that will come from this? How can this be helping them? I think that something needs to be done to protect these people from the salvation offered by “primarily . . . former colonial powers” of the developed nations in the world. What can be done, and who can do it?