Thursday, January 12, 2012

Piss Off

There's been quite a bit of sturm und drang over the recently posted video of U.S. Marines pissing on the bodies of dead camel-fucking scum taliban. Most of it, as you can imagine, has been a mixture of outrage and condemnation from such notable combat veterans and military experts as Leon Panetta and Hillary Clinton. Legitimate military personnel were also quick to condemn the act, although I suspect for different reasons.

Let me make this as clear as I can. I whole-heartedly agree with the sentiment underlying the Marines' actions. I understand the visceral feeling towards people who have quite likely killed and/or maimed your buddies, and are trying to do the same to you. But -- and this is a big but -- those Marines are supposed to be professionals. Their job is to dispatch the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible. In other words, in a professional manner. What they did, however understandable, just provides propaganda and motivation for the other side.
"It is difficult to say what long-term impacts this might have, and I would hesitate to get into speculation, but obviously any sort of footage, any sort of activity of this kind ...  are very much working against our cause..." said Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a NATO ISAF spokesman.
Imagine that you're an Afghan who is not necessarily on the taliban's side, but remains unsure about the American presence. Something like this just might be enough to tip the scale and send you over to the other side. At the very least it makes you more leery and suspicious of, and less likely to help, American forces. It just makes everyone else's job that much more difficult, as evidenced by the following.
A Taliban spokesman called the video "barbaric."

"And no religion that follows a holy text would accept such conduct. This inhuman act reveals their real face to the world," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said via text message Thursday.

"Islam gives values and respect to every human being," regardless of which religion the individual follows, said Islamic scholar Mawlawi Enayatullah Baligh. "The value and respect is the same for an alive person and a dead body. Even the body of your enemy in the battleground is respectable in Islam."
Yeah, right. Tell it to the innocent women and children killed by suicide bombers, the innocent women and children raped, tortured, and maimed in the name of islamic 'honor.'

I utterly and categorically reject any blather claiming that islam 'values and respects every human being.' I would gladly piss on the bodies of dead islamist extremists.

But -- and here's that 'but' again -- I am no longer a professional member of the armed forces. That's the tragedy of this whole thing. Skilled and motivated U.S. Marines are about to be buried under a ton of shit because one of them was foolish enough to record and then post a video of what I suspect is a relatively mild and common after-action event.

Does anyone think things like this didn't happen in the Pacific Theater during WWII? The Korean War? Or Viet Nam?

Thank goodness they didn't have cell phones or pocket video cameras back then...

4 comments:

Hot Sam said...

Yes, it happened in WWII. American soldiers cut the penises off dead Nazis. It is a violation of the Laws of War, but as violations go these are the slightest. Unprofessional? Sure, but easy enough to say when we aren't the ones in combat.

I think the only way you stay sane as a professional soldier is by dehumanizing your enemies. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have done most of that work for us. We know we are fighting against evil incarnate. I can't speak about their character, but I don't think the Marines would kill innocent people. I don't think they would privately bear arms against people over phantom fears or exaggerated grievances.

I remember when four US contractors were killed, their bodies burned, and they were hung from lampposts. Mr. Al Qaeda and Mr. Taliban and Mr. Liberal had absolutely nothing to say about that.

The purpose of the Laws of War is to stop the cycle of hatred and violence. These laws proceed on the assumption that nations don't go to war for light and spurious causes, and that there is an inherent morality which the belligerent powers mutually maintain. In other words, the Laws presume peace and reconciliation is possible. Notwithstanding any "talks" we are having with the Taliban, I don't believe they are a peaceful people who desire an end to war with peaceful coexistence. I do think the Afghan and Pakistan people can be peaceful, but they are wrapped up in a culture of endless violence.

kerrcarto said...

They should have beheaded them. Then the Taliban would have zip diddly shit to say about it.

CenTexTim said...

I just heard on the news that Hillary Clinton -- HILLARY FRIGGIN' CLINTON, of all people -- is saying that those Marines should be charged with war crimes. How asinine is that?

CenTexTim said...
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