The four Marines urinating on corpses have been identified and now Hillary Clinton is calling for War Crime charges.
So let's get this straight: Pissing on dead people -- who don't give a shit whether you're pissing on them or not 'cause they're, like, dead -- is a war crime. But making hundreds of thousands of people dead in the first place by sending U.S. troops into some place they have no business being based on lies? Why, NOT a war crime. So Darth Cheney and his puppet minion GWB aren't war criminals, 'cause the buck stops... well, down there with the grunts, yo!
I can't condone this sort of conduct, but I can understand why it's happening -- and that it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to the outcome. We've already lost in Afghanistan. Everybody understands that except the politicians who sent the troops into Afghanistan. Crap, we lost the moment we sent more than a few platoons of Special Forces into Afghanistan, that's a landscape that has chewed up pretty much every invader that's ever dared it. This is the sort of shit that happens when a defeated military is bitterly nursing its wounds after being put into a no-win situation. It's a pisser that something like this happens (literally in this case) and the troops involved should be disciplined (too bad we contracted out the mess halls, these are some grunts who need to peel a *lot* of potatoes), but WAR CRIME? Oh puh-leeze, the real war crime is sending our troops into a no-win situation in a first place. Duh.
-- Badtux the Reality-based Penguin
Yeah, I am beyond disgust with how the grunts on the ground have to be perfect freaking Galahads, but the men who send them to war can be greedy, blood-thirsty, torturing bastards and never get so much as a serious question.
ReplyDeleteConventional wisdom reigns supreme: the ground pounders are liable for crimes against humanity while their betters remain anonymously free from blame. It's Vietnam redux or something like it.
ReplyDeleteMrs Clinton remains the mouthpiece of the establishment. As does her husband.
Right or wrong, public or private, there is no doubt that some people are above the law...and it is a national disgrace.
ReplyDeleteThe world would be a much better place if the political war criminals had to go to The Hague. If the reality were that sort of accountability, there would probably be no more wars.
ReplyDeleteI winced when I saw this story out there, but I completely agree with this post.
ReplyDeleteI posted my thoughts on that this morning.
ReplyDeleteWe can split hairs here. Are we at war, is this a war crime, should higher up the chain of command individuals be held accountable? I'm sure this action is against the code of conduct and these poor bastards need to be held accountable. I can justify the behavior away because assholes like Bush, Cheney and others put this troops in a bad situation. What would the reaction be if those had been dead Marines?
ReplyDeleteShould have read I can't justify the behavior away.
ReplyDeleteWhat would the reaction be if they were dead Marines being pissed on? Easy. Shock & Awe and 100,000 dead civilians.
ReplyDeleteAs for this War Crime, while the Marines are guilty what must never, ever be mentioned is that War itself is a crime.
But, when why not champion War from the safety of your New York penthouse? The MIC made many a family fortune.
The Marines were making manifest in a crude way the reality of the Phony War on Terror. They may be Jarheads, but they understand they are executing a policy of symbolically pissing on people.
ReplyDeleteSnark aside, however, I really believe there is no place for such behavior. It may in fact be criminal, per the rules of war; and yes, wars do have rules, like everything else in which "society" engages.
It is not enough -- esp. in the hypocritical "hearts and minds" campaign -- to say things got the better of these Marines. This why Marines and soldiers are taught the Geneva Conventions as pertains to POWs and the dead, so they do not make such egregious errors which jeopardize both themselves and the entire mission (such as it is).
I certainly agree that these Marines broke the Code of Conduct and should be seriously punished for that offense, possibly even to the extent of a dishonorable discharge (for there was nothing honorable about what they did). On the other hand, sending them to prison for war crimes when the people who created this situation are free men is a double standard of justice that makes a mockery of everything America is supposed to stand for. When we have one standard of justice for the Bushes and Cheneys of the world, and another standard of justice for the Marine grunts of this world, what that says about what this nation represents is so reprehensible as to make a penguin ashamed of his homeland.
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Double-standards Penguin
The rich and powerful live in a different world and have a different justice system from the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteBT says,
ReplyDeletesending them to prison for war crimes when the people who created this situation are free men is a double standard of justice
Yes -- I wholeheartedly agree. Throwing only groundlings like Lynnde England under the bus for Abu Ghraib, for instance, is beyond absurd. And yet ... it is a fallacy of logic to claim for the reduction in heinousness of the Marine's actions on the basis of comparison with the grotesque behavior of the muckety-mucks.
The actions of the Marines stands alone; comparison with the behavior of the power brokers is a false mediation. This is not to excuse anyone. The law should adjudicate for the justice of all (were we in a just and functional civil society.)