Afghan leader Karzai condemns 'US Marines body desecration' video

[warpus]

I like how in a war where thousands of people are dying we are supposed to muster up outrage over corpse desecration. But on that subject, how many more times do these things have to blow up in soldiers' faces before they stop video taping themselves? I mean dont get me wrong, the desecration is bad and they shouldnt be doing it in the first place, but how stupid do these guys have to be to keep filming themselves doing stuff they know will get them in trouble?

They're kids... who obviously didn't go through rigorous enough training before being sent into a war zone.

 

[kochman]

They're kids... who obviously didn't go through rigorous enough training before being sent into a war zone.

It's not a matter of training...
You will always have people in your society that do the wrong thing, sometimes those people join the military.

I call it the 10% rule... no matter where you go, what group, etc... 10% are generally there by accident, oversight, etc.

They will be punished, and humiliated... Dishonorable discharge is most likely, which means McDonald's won't even let them flip burgers for minimum wage.

 

[Flying Pig]

It's not a matter of training...
You will always have people in your society that do the wrong thing, sometimes those people join the military.

I call it the 10% rule... no matter where you go, what group, etc... 10% are generally there by accident, oversight, etc.

They will be punished, and humiliated... Dishonorable discharge is most likely, which means McDonald's won't even let them flip burgers for minimum wage.

I actually agree with this. We try in training to seperate out those 10%, but there will always be a few. The simple fact is that you don't know how anyone's going to react to combat without putting them into combat.

 

[kramerfan86]

They're kids... who obviously didn't go through rigorous enough training before being sent into a war zone.

I could buy that argument for why they actually did it, got lost in the moment and anger towards their enemies, but anyone who isnt utterly braindead should realize videotaping a misdeed in this day and age is going to end poorly.

 

[Flying Pig]

I shall leave Mobby, who no doubt has better tales than I, to tell of the intelligent things that squaddies do.

 

[NBAfan]

Why is this even a story? It's like filming a battle and posting a headline, "war kills people!"

 

[RedRalph]

Why is this even a story? It's like filming a battle and posting a headline, "war kills people!"

Yeah, you're right. There's no story here.

 

[NBAfan]

Yeah, you're right. There's no story here.

I was referring to the video, not Karzai's reaction.

 

[Silurian]

I was referring to the video, not Karzai's reaction.

They are linked.

 

[NBAfan]

They are linked.

It just seems silly to me I guess. We have been killing Taliban fighters in Afghanistan for years, yet they get upset when we desecrate some of their corpses, instead of being angry when we kill them?

 

[MobBoss]

I shall leave Mobby, who no doubt has better tales than I, to tell of the intelligent things that squaddies do.

The not-so-long ago youtube video of a soldier tossing a puppy off a cliff to its death comes immediately to mind. Remember that one?

But yeah, soldiers are.....people. People do unlawful, sometimes really strange and weird things. Go figure.

 

[RedRalph]

People do unlawful, sometimes really strange and weird things. Go figure.

Like the Taliban, huh?

 

[asbestos]

--delete--

 

[Flying Pig]

Like the Taliban, huh?

Most of us don't make it a matter of military policy to emulate our most screwed-up, useless people.

 

[Camikaze]

The outrage at this incident is amplified not because it makes the US worse than the Taliban (and I don't think anyone has suggested that that's the case), but because it has the potential to do immense damage to the war effort. I wouldn't think there is much an American soldier could do to aid the enemy more than they have here. We all know the Taliban does lots of things that are worse, but that's not at all the point. The act, and the damage the act will cause (or has caused), is condemnable in its own right, and the acts of the Taliban don't come into that at all. The Taliban isn't the yardstick for measuring what the US should or shouldn't do in the war. The US has an important image to preserve (and that image isn't one where the US is simply marginally better than the Taliban), and acts such as this go a long way towards losing it in the minds of an awful lot of people.

 

[capslock]

You know it's bad when the Taliban has the moral high ground.

Or maybe they realize its not that big a deal. Especially when compared to some of their activities...


This is an unfortunate lapse in discipline and they'd be punished regardless of whether it got out or not, but hopefully the overraction in the media doesn't get them fried too bad.

 

[say1988]

I was under the impression that the Taliban controlled fairly large parts of the country.

Which comes to the question of how much control do the leaders of the organization actually have?
If they came to terms with the Karzai government, would the rank and file follow?

Why is this even a story? It's like filming a battle and posting a headline, "war kills people!"

You forgot the pissing on dead bodies part. Even if you don't accept any moral argument, the fact is that this will get aired in the Muslim world when they are recruiting people to blow up Westerners.

 

[warpus]

I actually agree with this. We try in training to seperate out those 10%, but there will always be a few. The simple fact is that you don't know how anyone's going to react to combat without putting them into combat.

Isn't there some sort of screening where a soldiers' mental health is examined? That should help weed out the crazies

 

[say1988]

No screening will ever be perfect.

 

[emzie]

They don't. A terrorist bombing is a far more heinous act than taking a piss on a dead guy.

Taliban do worse with the blessing (and even the order) of their hierarchy on a wide scale, and you think a handful of guys doing much less serious crime AGAINST their orders give the Taliban a "moral high ground" ?

Seriously ?

Er... I'm not sure what the Taliban has historically done, and would probably like to continue to do, has to do with what I said.