Katherine Jordan is a 19-year-old from Lyndon, Kansas who has enlisted in the Army.

Her coming deployment to Iraq is the subject of an article in today’s New York Times.

As my contention is that Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq were and continue to be harmful to the security of the United States, I read the article with interest, wondering what this young lady’s motivations for enlisting could possibly be.

“I don’t know all the facts as much as I should,” she said. “What I know is that we’re protecting our country still. We’re concentrating on keeping insurgents away from the United States.”

People of mediocre intelligence who, to boot, are lazy-minded, are just the sort Bush and company love to have on board for their war. They will follow orders unquestioningly and will settle on the most simplistic justifications for their actions and never examine those simplistic justifications.

A wise person does not even purchase an automobile without knowing “all the facts as much as I should,” still less sign up to go to war.

In reading other parts of the same article, one learns that Ms. Jordan had a concern that she would remain in Lyndon, Kansas all her life and “never be anybody.” As she is being deployed to a war zone and will therefore receive higher paychecks, she is excited for the money and says she hopes to save $15,000 so she can buy a car upon her return. If she makes it back alive, some car dealer can look forward to an easy sale to a gullible dupe.

She further says: “You can just hope God is on your side and move through the tour and all that other great stuff.” Her father is quoted in the article, saying: “Katherine, you know we love you. God will be on your side because I just know he will be.”

Heaven help us when people start nattering about god taking sides in a war. Is an alleged supernatural being an acceptable framework for thinking and talking about any aspect of a war, be it the entire campaign or the safety of an individual soldier? I dare say it is not.

People at all levels of society have a responsibility to the rest of society to do quality thinking regarding their actions, when those actions affect others. A sloth-brained 19-year-old who by her own admission doesn’t know all the facts as much as she should is being socially irresponsible by enlisting in the army.