There are times that I wonder why we bother with such allies in Afghanistan. Then I remember that some members of our military in Somalia were just as bad, so my complaint is no more than pot kettle. But nonetheless, the USA is falling down in its responsibilities as an ally. Shirley to heaven by now they should have figured out that they have a responsibility to behave in a civilized manner so as to not earn generations of hostility by Muslims.
The American special forces soldiers who committed the atrocity.
The American Army psychological operations unit that came up with such a plan.
The American officers higher up the chain who failed to instill the necessity of civilized behavior in these soldiers, and who failed to put in place a command system to prevent such atrocities.
Vandalizing a corpse is not an “atrocity.” The people were already dead. If you’ve got hangups about the proper method of disposal for rancid man-meat, that’s your deal.
The danger posed by rotting corpses is absolutely nominal provided that they don’t contaminate water supplies in large numbers or anyone does something stupid like try to eat it.
This is not a, “bad PR move,” this is a senseless dessecration that will alienate members of a society that we desperately wish to have on our side to persue our ligitimate military goals in Afghanistan.
Is there any idea anywhere, in the rank and file, that if you are doing something to piss off your enemy based on their religious beliefs you are also likely to be pissing off the locals too? I mean don’t they care or do they just not have a brain amongst them.
Well, according to the article, the Geneva Convention states that bodies should not be cremated, “except for imperative reasons of hygiene or for motives based on the religion of the deceased.”, so at least the soldiers are following the rules.
This is, in fact, a bad thing. It also happens in all wars. We just get to see it a lot more clearly these days. I’ve heard the stories my grandfather’s old army buddies tell…
Especially when flamethrowers were involved. My FIL has witnessed that first hand. Obviously, being on fire when you are alive is much worse than being on fire when you are dead.
I don’t think this group mistaked these two for Missionary Mormons or Jehova’s Witnesses. :smack:
They were deliberately trying to provoke the Taliban into coming out to fight. It was a tactical move; it may not have been good tactics but OTOH if it worked and they bagged a few hundred enraged Taliban, then it might have been worth it. That is, of course, until some Pulitzer-sniffing reporter decided to film it and set the American cause in Afghanistan right back to square one.
Yeah. Damn those pesky journalists. And you know he took the picture in such a way as to portray the cremators in the worst possible light. All our hard work down the drain because of one photo. We may as well just pack up and leave.
Actions which are deliberately intended to be patently offensive to Muslims (not just the Taliban…this action was insulting to Islam as a whole, including millions of Muslims who are American citizens) are hardly helping the cause in Afghanistan.
And blaming a hypothetical reporter for doing his job is really fucking stupid. If the troops don’t do disgusting things they won’t have anything to worry about. Personally, I hope they have journalists up their asses everywhere they go. Secrecy has not historically boded well for the ethical conduct of military actions.
Oh come on. Spare me the outraged sensibilities. On the scale of war atrocities this was hardly up there with Katyn, Srebrenica, etc. We’re talking dead bodies here. I repeat, if the burning of Taliban corpses could have resulted in the elimination of live Taliban fighters, thus possibly sparing who knows how many Allied lives, then the game would have been worth the candle. That is, of course, if the whole Muslim world were not given a ringside seat. The journalist made sure it was. Now the soldiers concerned will have to pay the price,. They didn’t torture anybody, they didn’t commit a massacre, they used a military subterfuge as old as war itself - try to provoke the enemy into a mistake.
But hey, crucify them. They were disrespectful of the enemy.
Obviously he doesn’t because terrorists are Muslim, which means that Muslims have no rights. Didn’t you miss Bush’s speech on how brown people are shit, or something like that?
If we don’t desecrate these bodies, then the terrorists will have won.
My goodness! They certainly deserve to be thrown to the dogs then,
We must respect the other fellow’s religion,but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.