While drifting from blog to blog in search of other things, I came across a rather chilling story about Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet army officer in charge of launching a retaliatory nuclear strike if his machines detected incoming missiles. When the machines showed a US launch of five missiles, he was supposed to double-check whether the information looked valid, or was a false alarm, and if the information checked, he was supposed to order a launch. Everything checked, but he had a hard time believing that the US would only launch five missiles, when they had the capability for so much more, and reported it as a false alarm. It turned out to be an error in the satellite systems. By ignoring everything the computers told him, he managed to avoid the destruction of the world.
It was not a decision without a price; although at first he was praised for his actions, he found himself slighted and picked on as the flaws in the system became known. It would only be twenty-one years later, on May 24, 2004, that he was recognized by the Association of World Citizens for his actions, and received a financial reward AWC raised for him through its website.
I find my mind drawn to the recurring tragedies around checkpoints and foot patrols in Iraq, where US soldiers, without enough information to tell whether or not the approaching car contains a family with children or a suicide bomber, open fire early, often with horrifying results. Particularly with foot patrols, it is an almost unavoidable disaster after dark; the car cannot see the soldiers to be warned off, and the instinct to escape, to accelerate, when the driver hears a bullet (from a warning shot, if one is fired) hit the car is a fatal one. If the soldiers wait to be able to see clearly into the car, they'll be in range of an explosion before they can stop it. Such stories have been coming out of Iraq since the start of the war, with the particularly gruesome report of the Tal Afar shooting a couple weeks ago captured on film by Chris Hondros of Getty News, the galleries of which can be found on both the BBC and NewsWeek. Some soldiers are reporting that incidents like this are happening as frequently as several times a night. Steve Gilliard commented on the irony of this report coming out just in time for inauguration day.
Some soldiers are refusing to place themselves in this situation any longer, however. Darrell Anderson, a 22 year old GI, made the decision to desert rather than go on shooting civilians. He recounts an episode where he was ordered to fire upon a vehicle that got too close to his checkpoint, but refused, seeing only a man and his child. His commanding officer yelled at him for it.
I hope that in 20 years, Darrell Anderson is remembered for the lives he saved by refusing to fire, rather than the crime he committed by refusing to report for his second tour of duty. I hope others will make the same decision.
Credits to Alas, a Blog, One Hand Clapping, and Tim Blair for providing the trail that led me to the story about Stanislav Petrov.
